Dani Carvajal is the holder of the right flank; Odriozola, his natural substitute; Nacho the wild card if a host of problems hangs over the position of two and Lucas Vázquez as an emergency solution, but with guarantees. That could be a good early season analysis on Zidane's alternatives to cover the right back in his eleven. What was unpredictable is that a host of imponderables particularly punished that position and the French coach had to search for one solution after another. The Real Madrid coach has had up to seven players to occupy that demarcation. In addition to those mentioned, Mendy and, against Getafe, the debutant Marvin and Vinicius have also had to perform there. And that has not exhausted an eighth resource, that of Militao, who played with certain frequency in that position in Porto and Sao Paulo and as a Madrid player played there against Betis in the last game before confinement.
The injuries that plague Madrid in the five months that we have been in the season have punished the left back and have been primed with Carvajal. The one from Leganés, the undisputed owner of that band if it is in full condition, has only been able to start in a third of the games (He also played, as a substitute, against Valladolid). It was precisely after that match against the Blanquivioletas that he was injured for the first time. An injury to the internal lateral ligament of his right knee took him out for a month and a half and he missed eight games. Two games played and a muscle injury to the right adductor muscle left him KO again for ten days. With the tight schedule, three games without playing and a fourth due to prudence. He started the year in the worst way. He retired early against Celta due to some inconvenience. A match in which he saw the fifth yellow, which gave him ten days to recover. Forty have passed and he has barely stepped on the grass in training. His absence lasts five games.
Nacho and Lucas Vázquez, the spare parts
Nacho was Zidane's first choice to replace Carvajal. He played against Levante and Cádiz, but against Shakhtar Zidane he chose to reserve him for the Clásico and bet on Mendy. The youth squad was injured at the Camp Nou just before the break and it was Lucas Vázquez's turn. What began as an emergency solution (although not novel, since the extreme has acted there previously), ended up becoming, based on a great performance by the Galician, in the best alternative for Zidane. In fact, Lucas is the player who has started the most times in that position this season: 11. Between defense and his natural position in attack, he reached 20 consecutive games as a starter.. The injuries have not been respected either. Some muscular discomfort has kept him on the sidelines for two weeks, a period in which he has missed three games so far.
Odriozola, from forgotten to indispensable resource
Lucas' injury opened the door for Donostia. Odriozola already played the third league game, against Valladolid. Zidane kept him on the field for 57 minutes before relieving him for Carvajal. The day after the youth squad was injured, the Gipuzkoan also fell, in his case due to an injury to the calf of his left leg. A month and a half off, which overlapped with the absence of Dani. By then Lucas Vázquez had already won to overtake him in the ranks. Rotations in the Cup returned the title to him. But the train passed again. He played the last minutes in Mendizorroza and the plague of casualties gave him two new opportunities against Levante and Huesca … until the injuries also touched him. Some discomfort in the hamstrings made him retire early in El Alcoraz and could not be against Getafe.
The other solutions: Mendy, Marvin, Vinicius …
Carvajal, Lucas, Nacho and Odriozola add among the four the ownership of the right wing in 28 of the 30 Real Madrid games. The other two meetings have been for Mendy and Marvin. Zidane switched sides to his compatriot against Shahktar to leave the left flank to Marcelo, whom the Frenchman has ended up winning the pulse in his natural position. He had already played there sporadically with Le Havre and Lyon and has also done so with the French team. This season he has repeated in the two games against Huesca.
Although in El Alcoraz Mendy finished the game on the right side, Zidane's change of drawing placed him as a left central against Getafe, with Marcelo more open and advanced as a lane. For the right, Zidane trusted Marvin with lane powers. And the game that lit up the sixth right-back of the season, also unveiled the seventh: Vinicius. The Brazilian, Zidane acknowledged, was going to be substituted shortly before game time, but some inconvenience from Marvin ended up repositioning him. Seven players for one position.