Marcelo looks for the big door

Four days after lifting his first trophy as captain of Real Madrid (his 23rd in total as a player for the white entity), Marcelo returned to ownership in the Madrid team. Curiously, this season it had only been once in the league and another in the Cup against Alcoyano: in the Whites’ victory in the League at the Elche stadium where they returned this season, this time in the Cup, with Real Madrid. Slowly, time is passing and the goodbye of a charismatic player is glimpsed on the horizon, who at his zenith had no rival or possible comparison with other players from the same demarcation. But Marcelo does not want to leave empty… He wants to go out through the front door. He already has a title (the Spanish Super Cup), a new League is on the horizon (it would be his sixth title) and he has a long way to go in both the Champions League and the Cup.

Marcelo is living his last months as a Madrid player. Almost everyone takes it for granted. His age (he turns 34 next May) and the presence of Ferland Mendy (26), who has taken ownership from him since his arrival in 2019, prompts us to think about an upcoming withdrawal. The club, for its part, wants to respect his decision and will not make any move about it: the Brazilian contract ends in June, but After the departure of Sergio Ramos, he has strengthened his leadership in the locker room. Yesterday, at the conclusion of the match, he jumped onto the pitch and greeted all his teammates with hugs and cheerful gestures. Even when Andrii Lunin and Luis Llopis commented on the match in midfield, he went to their meeting to congratulate the Ukrainian goalkeeper and the goalkeeping coach.

His game went from less to more until his expulsion in the 104th minute. An unfair red card because the Brazilian touched the ball first before Morente’s run, which he exaggerated in the fall. Figueroa Vázquez sent him off, which caused the winger to respond angrily: “You’re very bad.” Reflected in the minutes, Marcelo is exposed to three sanction matches: one for the expulsion and two for disrespect to the referee. The quarterfinal match and the two semifinals would be lost.

After a start with a serious error that could have ended in a goal from Elche (Guido Carrillo missed with the whole goal for him), Marcelo was growing throughout the first part. Well supported by Kroos, who paved the way for his rises, covering his gap, and mixing and getting along well with Vinicius, he made the left wing a base for white attacks. In the 41st minute he made one of his forays into the rival area that recalled his best times: he entered between two rivals, with spout Josan included, and already in the second half he assisted Vinicius, but the latter’s shot was stopped by Werner. He even brushed the goal with a cross shot that narrowly missed…

His influence also stands out in this statistic, he tried 66 passes, of which 59 were good. In turn, of these 59 centers, 33 were in rival territory (55.94%). Marcelo was once again the Marcelo who was named Roberto Carlos’s successor as the best left-back in the world. And he seeks to leave through the front door.