The last time that the Santiago Bernabéu, empty of fans for 14 months, was opened for Real Madrid to welcome a new signing, the protagonist on the pitch was Éder Militao. It was July 10, 2019 and the Brazilian, the first closed addition for that season, was the last to show up. Hazard, Rodrygo, Jovic and Mendy had previously paraded. The central defender had just arrived from winning the Copa América with Brazil at just 21 years old. That day, no one imagined that he would be the last player to walk the runway at the Bernabéu in his entire life … and that almost two years later, with hardly having had a leading role in the team, he would become a key player for the Whites to win a new Champions League double.
Militao's leap to European football was as dazzling as his emergence at Real Madrid was late. He arrived at Porto in August 2018 from Sao Paulo for 7 million euros and in March of the following year the whites reached an agreement with the Portuguese club to sign him for 50 million. A transfer that made him the most expensive defender in the history of the entity (and the ninth considering all the demarcations). His portista origin, a bridge club for many South Americans who end up triumphing in Europe and where Pepe also came from, and the five goals he had scored in his season with the dragons, supported his signing.
In its first season Militao could not detach himself from the shadow cast by Ramos and Varane. A couple with almost a decade of experience that has marked an era. He played 20 games and had the bad luck of being on the pitch in five of the team's seven defeats. His performances, except for some notable exceptions such as that of San Mamés, were no more than discreet., and the attempt by Zidane (at Villamarín, in the last game before confinement) to place him on the right side, a position in which he had also developed, made waters.
LaLiga Santander
* Data updated as of May 2, 2021
The start of this campaign took place in ocher tones. His first big moment was scheduled in advance. Ramos missed the first Champions League of the season through suspension. Zidane gave him the second half of the match against Cádiz to fine-tune his complicity with Varane for the Shakhtar match. Paths defeats. The rotations gave him a new opportunity against Huesca (October 31) and from there he disappeared. The COVID had 17 days off until he tested negative while Nacho took control of the status of third center-back in the face of Ramos' first absences.
16 blank matches
Militao went 16 games without playing a single minute until the fateful night came against Alcoyano, where he scored his first goal with the Madrid shirt. Without Ramos or Nacho available, he repeated in the eleven against Alavés and remained against Levante. Against the granotas he lasted nine minutes on the pitch, expelled after a VAR review for avoiding a clear chance of scoring by Sergio León by means of a grab. The red one conditioned the game (that, 1-2, is the last defeat of Madrid, which has been undefeated 19 games since then) and seemed to sentence the Brazilian.
Performance comparison of Militao, Varane and Ramos. BeSoccer Pro
Two years after his signing, his future seemed far from Madrid, thinking of an operation in which Madrid could recover part of the investment in him. Until March he had only played six games. The seventh did not seem like it was going to pass from testimonial. Zidane gave him the last minutes of the round of 16 of the Champions League against Atalanta to dose Ramos, who had recovered in record time from his knee operation to be in the crash. But fate awaited his moment to claim that his expiration date as a white player is still far away.
From almost unpublished to indisputable
After the last national team break, the multiple setbacks in defense (Ramos injury, Varane convalescence due to COVID, a Nacho sanction match …) have made him indisputable in the last nine games (Only he and Courtois have played them all in full). 810 minutes compared to the 444 he had accumulated until then. He has done it with outstanding performances, such as the return against Liverpool, Getafe or the first leg against Chelsea. Until against Osasuna he uncovered the jar of his essences. The goal that was almost scored at an own door on a risky wall with Courtois was an anecdote. Resolute in defense, he displayed his offensive potential, in the purest Sergio Ramos style. Another Sergio, Herrera, Osasuna goalkeeper, denied him the goal in the first half in two centers of Asensio and Blanco. But he ended up finding him in a corner of Isco, with a header that caused one of the greatest wastes of effusiveness that Zidane is reminded of in a celebration.
Militao presents better records than Varane and Ramos in various statistical sections, according to BeSoccer Pro data: disputed defensive duels, aerial duels, recoveries … With the imminent recovery of the captain, the future of the French in question and the dazzling present of the Brazilian, Zidane has a new blessed dilemma ahead when six finals remain to close the season.