LW Vinicius Junior
After an encouraging month of February, Vinicius Junior delivered a strong March for Los Blancos. With Eden Hazard injured again, Vinicius is establishing himself as key to Zinedine Zidane’s plans as we head into the final months of the 2020-2021 campaign.
Vini scored a late game-tying goal against Real Sociedad and had a positive performance a couple of matches later in the league against Elche. But his finest display was in the Champions League, as he was impossible for Atalanta’s defense to cope with on the ball. Maybe he should have scored, but Vini should get full marks for the chances he created all by himself.
Rating: 7.0
RW Marco Asensio
Rodrygo Goes had one start and three substitute appearances in March, while Marco Asensio had two of each. Therefore, the edge goes to Asensio, who gets the rating as the “starter” for the month. Though the caveat here is that by not playing at all against Elche and by coming off the bench in the final two matches of the month, Asensio received a boost in confidence and production.
Asensio was horrendous in two huge La Liga fixtures for Real Madrid against Real Sociedad and Atletico, but he made up for it with goals off the bench against Celta Vigo and Atalanta. Both goals sealed the matches at 3-1 for Los Blancos. Asensio deserves credit for scoring twice, but he deserves just as much criticism for how dreadful he was in the starts.
Rating: 6.0
CF Karim Benzema
By far the Player of the Month, even though the likes of Toni Kroos were also highly impressive. Los Blancos have Benzema to thank for their positive results, as he returned to health and did not take long to refind his footing, netting the equalizer against Atleti after struggling with some chances earlier in the match.
Benzema scored in every game he played in March for six goals and an assist in four matches. He had multiple key passes in the final three games of the month to boot. I think those numbers, particularly the goals, tell you all you need to know about Benz’s impact last month.
Rating: 10