The usual suspects slump in the attack
Although Isco played well as the left winger for Real Madrid against Real Sociedad, his two other teammates in the front three were thorough disappointments. And that’s not a surprise, considering we’ve criticized them for weeks.
Mariano Diaz offered precisely zero to Real and had one embarrassing attempt in which he took Isco’s pass and decided to do it all himself. He is clearly not good enough to be playing for Los Blancos – not even as a backup. It’s a shame Real could not offload him and instead had to loan Borja Mayoral, who is scoring at a high rate as Edin Dzeko’s backup with Roma.
In Mariano’s case, Madridistas pretty much knew not to expect much from him. But right winger Marco Asensio had high expectations in a make-or-break 2020-2021 campaign. Asensio delivered another absolute stinker on Matchday 25. He also offered very little to Real’s attack. It is particularly frustrating to see him struggle to create space on the ball for a shot, which negates what should be his greatest asset to Los Blancos.
But at least Asensio had a key pass. Mariano recorded no meaningful statistics and was the worst player on the pitch. He might be the worst striker in the entire league right now. It is a humiliation that he is the main backup for Real Madrid right now.