It has been a season for Eder Militao to remember thus far. Ever since joining Real Madrid from Porto in 2018/19, the Brazilian had failed to live up to the high expectations that the €50 million price tag brought. But we cannot blame Militao for this, can we?
It was the lack of opportunities that came his way in the initial seasons of his Real Madrid career. It was the period when Los Blancos’ attack was already struggling, so obviously, no manager would want to bench Sergio Ramos or Raphael Varane- the two undisputed starters, to play a new promising young defender.
But as Jean Jacques Rousseau said, “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet”. Eder Militao never looked down. He knew he had to face this challenge and work hard. He knew his time would come, and when it does, he has to show the world what he is capable of. And this is exactly what he did.
When Sergio Ramos got injured in 2020, Eder Militao finally got his chance to prove himself and show his worth to the club. He knew that it was a now or never chance for him. Initially, Militao was not too good, pretty satisfactory. But he did show some promising sparks.
As the season continued, Eder Militao got better and better and as the 2020-21 season came close to an end, we saw Eder Militao like never before. There was definitely some scope of improvement, but he did silence those who asked questions about his presence.
This season too we saw Eder Militao play some great football. Despite having different centre backs pairing with him, he adapted well with each of them and he has just got better with every match this season.
So, what has he improved upon? Let’s talk about that.