Real Madrid: Making the case that Rodrygo Goes is the team’s best winger

Real Madrid had a sturdy defense in the 2020-2021 season despite a multitude of injuries, and their midfield has to be considered the best in European football. And up top, Real have one of the most legendary strikers in the game in Karim Benzema, whose goal-scoring and chance-creation are both top-notch.

So why were Real so inept in the Champions League semifinals? Why didn’t they secure the league title? The answer lies on the wings. Eden Hazard had another injury-plagued year, while Vinicius Junior and Marco Asensio were inconsistent at best and downright disappointing at worst.

Yet amidst the disappointing production from the wingers and their frustrating inconsistency, one man can at least say that he was not terrible this year. It isn’t saying much due to the struggles of his teammates, but Rodrygo Goes was Real’s best winger in the 2020-2021 season. And he showed more subtly encouraging signs that he can be a key part of the future in Madrid.

Let’s look at the basic statistics first. Rodrygo didn’t play much, earning fewer than 1,000 minutes in all competitions. An injury in December against Granada hindered him, as he missed about a month of action and needed to be returned slowly. Prior to that injury, Rodrygo was on a tear, including in that very game against Granada.

Rodrygo Goes provided a lot of assists for Real Madrid this season

Even so, Rodrygo’s numbers were respectable. He scored just once, but he really stood out with six assists. Only Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos had more on the team in all competitions. Per 90 minutes, Rodrygo actually had the best rate of assists among players with at least two 90’s of minutes played (180), providing 0.55 every 90 minutes. So if we combine goals and assists, only Karim and Hazard had more combined goals and assists per 90 than Rodrygo’s 0.64.

That means if Rodrygo played, say, 2,500 minutes in a full season of action, we’d expect him to have about 18 goal contributions, with the majority of them being assists. Seeing how he had a low sample-size of matches played and the assists may be skewed a little, we can’t take that number too seriously. But in comparison to his peers, that’s very good.

Rodrygo led the team in goal-creating actions per 90, according to FBRef.com, and only experienced midfielders Toni Kroos and Isco had more shot-creating actions per 90. The Brazilian proved capable of creating off the dribble, with simple passes, or with crosses.

An intelligent player, Rodrygo is able to help the team on the right side of the formation, even though he isn’t in his preferred position. Whereas Asensio and Vinicius regularly start on the sides they prefer – and the same goes for Hazard – Rodrygo has to find ways to contribute as a youngster despite not getting to play in a set position nearly every week. And yet despite this impediment to his confidence and integration into the first team, he keeps his place.

Real Madrid fans have a great deal of respect for Rodrygo

In that way, Rodrygo has earned a lot of respect from fans, and you can see that teammates like Benzema respect him as well. They appreciate he is usually in the right position offensively to receive a pass and makes the right choices in the final third. And that’s not easy to do at Real Madrid when there isn’t a whole lot of time to make a decision and when there is even less space to execute that final pass.

Hazard’s long-term value to the club is very low at this point, and he may have to leave if Real Madrid can sign Kylian Mbappe from PSG. On paper, you’d think he is the best winger, but because of his injury woes, I think Rodrygo has the most long-term value and is therefore the best Real have.

They need to show more faith in him in 2021-2022. Next season is the year to really push Rodrygo a little more and see what they can get out of him. His versatility, tactical awareness, passing accuracy, and crossing are positives, but Real Madrid need to tease out his best stuff on the ball and his incisiveness. He can bring some of those same qualities in getting into the opposition’s penalty area that Vinicius does, albeit with more polish in his technique, likely due to his uncanny composure.

To me, Rodrygo sits on top among the wingers heading into next season. Each of the other men have their positive qualities despite the heavy criticisms, but Rodrygo is the only player who we can say actually met our expectations this season. You can only wonder how much he would have helped in the second half of the season if his progress weren’t slowed for a couple of months by an injury.