The curious substitutions of RdT

Raúl de Tomás was a substitute against Osasuna for the first time this season. Until then, 34 days had passed in which the Madrid striker had participated in all except 12, 23 and 30 due to suspension or injury. Never by technical decision had he left the bench until Sunday, according to Vicente Moreno: “Osasuna has a very advanced defense, it leaves spaces, and with Wu Lei and Puado we could attack those spaces but we have not been well”slipped the technician.

The decision to leave RdT on the bench comes after the televised conflict between the two at the Santiago Bernabéu. The coach already surprised with the substitution of the Madrilenian when barely an hour had been played against Real Madrid and with 2-0, an abnormal decision. More unusual was when Moreno, a quiet man, grabbed him by the chest on the bench after the footballer supposedly made a comment and greeted some members of the Real Madrid coaching staff. A cause-effect that the Valencian coach denied (“I don’t punish even my children”)but confirmed by the RdT itself: “I made the mistake of disrespecting him and for that I paid for it this weekend by not playing to start.”

As happened last year, and as happens with every trace left by RdT, the forward’s substitutions have been curious to say the least. In LaLiga SmartBank they came out in the second half on matchday 3 and 4 against Oviedo and Sabadell. Those meetings coincided with the end of the summer market, which expired in October, and where RdT, which changed agents a few weeks earlier, was looking for an exit after being relegated. The coaching staff alleged some discomfort, but the player did participate in both games. Against Oviedo, for example, he scored two goals.

Interestingly, in that meeting there were a series of rumors about his figure. ‘La Grada’ explained that the footballer would have refused to be a player in order not to run the risk of a possible injury with a view to leaving for another team. Circumstance that, finally, did not occur since the striker did play, but he did so starting from the bench, a situation unknown last season.

Subsequently, the player was dropped from the squad list due to some inconvenience against Logroñés. The Blue and Whites won 4-0 and the next match in Castellón RdT entered, already recovered, but was a substitute. Moreno, captain of the parakeet ship that was heading to Primera, commented the following in the press room: “There are players who are seen to have more impact. RdT would have an impact on any team because of their quality. We don’t live on one player. We have to look for performance and justice in the line-ups”. A similar chapter was experienced on Sunday.