3 Real Madrid players who will struggle for minutes under Carlo Ancelotti

MARIANO DIAZ

Karim Benzema’s form kept Mariano Diaz out of the team under Zinedine Zidane even when Luka Jovic was out on loan, so one could possibly imagine that the Dominican forward faces a really harsh time in getting minutes if Luka Jovic ends up staying put in Spain. The Serbian striker wants to stay at the Santiago Bernabeu and Ancelotti may use him more than Zidane did in the new campaign.

Mariano is extremely athletic and shows a flamboyance in his gameplay, but that is backed by little result from a statistical viewpoint. He has managed just two goals in his last two seasons at Real Madrid, during which he played a limited yet enough role to get more balls to find the back of the net. What’s worse is that he does not seem to be in favour of the idea of leaving the Bernabeu.

Only one outcome awaits him and that is the bench. Whether he makes the bench or not also remains to be seen as clubs can now make only three substitutions and name 18-man squads for matches, given that the rule of five substitutions has been relaxed. He may only be part of training sessions and Copa del Rey matches, if only Madrid qualify for the next rounds of it.