Real Madrid: Grading every forward from the 2020-2021 season

ST Mariano Diaz

Since I don’t see the utility in grading players like Luka Jovic, Borja Mayoral, Sergio Arribas, and Hugo Duro who played 207 minutes or fewer in all competitions, let’s call it a day with Mariano Diaz and end this piece on the sour note it probably deserves.

As disappointing as Eden Hazard and Marco Asensio were for two very different reasons, Mariano Diaz was by far Real’s worst forward. I feel a little bad for him, since he shouldn’t even be in this position. It’s not his fault that management is so incompetent they thought they could forge ahead with Mariano as the only backup to Karim Benzema for the second half of the season. And it’s not Mariano’s fault that they handed him a contract that other teams don’t want to take.

Mariano gave Madridistas hope with an early goal at the Estadio de la Ceramica against Unai Emery’s Villarreal. And then he never scored again. Literally. For the remainder of the season after November, Mariano never contributed a goal. He played 690 minutes in all competitions at striker for Los Blancos and scored or assisted just once.

That’s awful. Mariano had some truly disastrous displays, such as against Alcoyano and Getafe. Even against lower-level sides, Mariano offered nothing on or off the ball. It was truly shocking to see a man who scored more than 20 goals in all competitions at Lyon perform this poorly.

Real Madrid fans are practically begging Mariano to go elsewhere. He can still have a very good career at a mid-level club, but you can’t have this kind of a performance at striker for Real Madrid and expect to stay long.

Rating: 3.0