The right band is leaking

That Real Madrid is going through a rough patch in terms of play and results is undeniable: of play, because they have barely scored a goal in the last four games and against PSG he did not manage to shoot between the three sticks, he only made three shots outside the door; and results, because they have won only one of their last five games, which has led to their elimination in the Cup, that Sevilla continues to lurk in the League and that the move to the quarterfinals of the Champions League has become expensive, pending a comeback. It is a crisis with all the letters and crises generate doubts, which in the case of Madrid are concentrated on the right wing, where the casting of headlines reopens every so often.

Ancelotti’s starting eleven has nine fixed pieces, which all Madrid fans know by heart: Courtois, Militao, Alaba, Mendy, Casemiro, Kroos, Modric, Vinicius and Benzema. I used to be added to this group Dani Carvajal, who has left the game against PSG very touched and around whose figure there is less and less unanimity. Mbappé crushed him throughout the game and was substituted near the end, so that a fresh Lucas Vázquez could come in to better withstand the Frenchman’s onslaught. The Galician also got his share: Mbappé slipped between him and Militao to make it 1-0.

Carvajal, just turned 30, renewed last summer until 2025; Lucas, a few months older, until 2024. The first is the starting side of the four Champions League, but his injury history is worrying and has worsened over the years, because last year he barely played 15 games; this one already adds 20, his physique holds up better. The Galician, 26 duels this course, is a reconverted winger. And neither of them is imposed on the side, while the fans remember Achraf, sold to Inter in 2020 for 40 million and now at PSG, where he arrived last summer for 60.

Asensio, Bale, Hazard, Rodrygo…

In defense, the fight for the minutes is a one-on-one between Carvajal and Lucas; in the attack, it looks like the cabin of the Marx brothers, with up to six applicants if you take into account Lucas himself, whom Ancelotti has also used as a winger. The site seemed shared property between Asensio (eight goals, one assist) and Rodrygo (two goals, six assists). But the Balearic, headline in Paris, also came out of the Parque de los Príncipes and not a few voices claim that his position should have gone to Valverde, with the mission of supporting Carvajal in the arduous task of stopping Mbappé. Asensio has in his statistics (he is the team’s third scorer, he needs almost 15 minutes less than Vinicius to score) his best endorsement, Rodrygo attracts Carletto with his tireless performance at the back.

And along the way two more figures crossed paths: Hazard and Bale. The first is a left winger by nature, but the presence of Vinicius has forced him to the right, where Ancelotti does not fully trust him. And the second seemed totally amortized, but he started on the last day in Vila-real and, to everyone’s surprise, he seemed like a more than reasonable alternative for the remainder of the course: he made five shots, three of them on goal, in 74 minutes.