Marcelo and Mendy maintains his pulse in style to take the position of left-back Real Madrid. If the Brazilian's turn came in the league premiere of the competition against Eibar, yesterday it was the French defender who played the game against Valencia in the Alfredo Di Stéfano.
The former Lyon, who occupied the right-back in the second half the previous day, replacing Carvajal, was a starter against Valencia in his most usual position with two basic tasks: to stop the internships of Ferran Torres in defense and to escort Eden Hazard in attack. As with the rest of his teammates, the Frenchman went from less to more and considerably improved his performance in the second half.
In the rear he sealed his band well (he was only dribbled once in the entire clash), he recovered the ball five times and little by little he increased his frequency of additions, showing good attunement with Kroos and Hazard. The Frenchman ended the clash with 57 successful passes and only two missed and signing a great assist for Asensio's goal, who returned in style after eleven months injured.
At minute 74, Mendy He received a short kick from the corner by Toni Kroos and immediately faced Wass before overtaking the Danish with a sudden change of pace to reach the baseline and put the center.
Since arriving in Madrid last summer, the French striker has played 1,774 minutes distributed in 24 games for 1,586 minutes divided into 20 clashes of Marcelo, who finished the game against Eibar. Such even numbers give reason to Zinedine Zidane's rotation policy (which insists at every press conference that it has everyone) and points to the fact that Mendy It is the side that has made things more difficult for Marcelo, undisputed holder on the left wing of Madrid since the departure of Coentrao.