The end of last year, with Dani carvajal Y Lucas Vazquez injured, it felt very good to Alvaro Odriozola, that now, with Carlo Ancelotti at the controls, will have a third chance to gain a place in the Real Madrid either as a starter or as an alternative on the right side.
Although it could possibly be used as a bargaining chip for the arrival of a new face, for now Odriozola he stays at the white club to fight for minutes and convince his new coach. If with Zidane He hardly had any options, with Ancelotti he could change his future at Real Madrid.
For now, except for a few moments of joy, Odriozola wearing white has not sat too well. Since arriving at Real Madrid In the 2018/19 season, the data does not accompany a 25-year-old defender who still has a long way to go.
In total, when he was part of the white squad, including the months prior to his assignment to Bayern in the winter market of the 2019/20 academic year, he played 43 of the 135 possible games (31.8 percent), 36 of them as a starter (26.6 percent). In addition, he accumulated 3,268 minutes of 12,150 (26.8 percent) and missed 26 games due to injury.
These data are not very flattering for the right-winger of Real Madrid. However, at the end of last year he saw green shoots when he seemed destined for ostracism. Even if Zidane He almost always preferred other players in his position, in the last part of the course he had to use Odriozola for the plague of injuries that devastated the Real Madrid defense.
Even so, the French coach did not have good gestures with Odriozola, who when he emerged thanks to players like Carvajal and Lucas Vázquez were in the infirmary, he preferred to place Nacho on the right side in duels of the utmost importance such as the one he played against Chelsea in the semi-final rounds of the Champions League.
Even in Granada, when there were three days left to go, and also without Lucas Vázquez and without Carvajal and with Nacho forced to play in the center of the defense due to the absences of Varane and Ramos, Valverde he took the job away. That duel on matchday 36, Odriozola took the field after the break due to the injury of the youth squad Marvin and in the second half he scored one of the winning goals (1-4).
That's the good news for Odriozola. That despite being almost always the last on the list to play, when he did, he delivered. And, of the last twelve official Real Madrid games last year, he participated in eleven and started seven. He left two goals and a sweet taste in the Madrid fans who saw how Odriozola could be, at least, a good replacement.
With Ancelotti, Odriozola's story at Real Madrid starts from scratch. With a contract until June 2024, he has the necessary stability to compete with Carvajal, Nacho and Lucas Vázquez, three of the players renewed this summer in the white squad.
Except Nacho, who now has a contract until June 2023, Lucas and Carvajal signed until June 2024, as Odriozola. At the moment, Real Madrid has only signed one defender, David Alaba, who can act as a central or left back. Odriozola, therefore, can compete face to face, from the beginning, with his three rivals. And, of all of them, the only one who is a pure right back like him is Carvajal.
He has hard work ahead of him to convince Ancelotti that, at the very least, he can be the second right-back in the squad and that he will not have to resort to Nacho or Lucas Vázquez to occupy Carvajal's plaza when he cannot play.
For the moment, that is the minimum that Odriozola should aspire to in a new project. Ancelotti has time to choose his starting right-back. Odriozola, if injuries respect you, it could be an option. He has just one month, the remainder for the start of LaLiga, to fight not to fall back into ostracism and become an important man at Real Madrid.