This season too, Real Madrid has suffered a lot of injuries, just like the last season and one of the most crucial ones was of Gareth Bale. The Welsh Dragon had returned to the Spanish capital in July after a somewhat satisfactory loan spell at Tottenham Hotspur.
Gareth Bale was having a great time on his return, but he, unfortunately, suffered a knee injury in September which has sidelined him for almost two months. And now, he has suffered another injury that has sidelined him for another month. So, Real Madrid is left with only Lucas Vazquez as a right-footed right winger who occasionally has to cover for Dani Carvajal at the right back position. So, who will take the responsibility? Rodrygo Goes is his name.
Rodrygo Goes made his LaLiga debut against Osasuna on 25th September 2019 where he scored the fastest LaLiga debut goal for Real Madrid. The Brazilian came on as a substitute and scored a goal within 93 seconds. He showed some amazing sparks under Zinedine Zidane but was able to make an impact mostly as a substitute.
As he played more and more games, he started to learn new things and I am sure he will be able to implement his tricks under Carlo Ancelotti. Rodrygo Goes has become better with time.
1. Rodrygo helps the fullbacks in defense:
Following Gareth Bale’s injury, Carlo Ancelotti has given chances to some players at the Right Wing- Eden Hazard (free-role), Marco Asensio, and Lucas Vazquez specifically. Eden Hazard and Marco Asensio have had some great games from the position, but what they offer in attack is not enough.
Carlo Ancelotti’s tactics require the full-backs to contribute a lot in attack and thus, they can often be exposed on the counter-attacks. So, the wingers need to drop back and defend so that the full-backs aren’t fully exposed. Marco Asensio and Eden Hazard aren’t capable of doing that for they aren’t energized enough to attack and drop back on the defense in just a few seconds.
Not only this, Gareth Bale has always been an injury-prone player and may not be able to exert or rush enough to help the full-backs. Moreover, Rodrygo’s contributions in defense aren’t bad at all, at least not for a 20-year-old winger. As per Whoscored.com, Rodrygo Goes averages 0.3 tackles and 0.4 interceptions per game. Since Real Madrid’s problems continue at the Right Back position, Carlo Ancelotti must trust Rodrygo Goes over any other player at the Right Wing position.