The 2-0 Real Madrid against Getafe in Valdebebas left in the retinas, in addition to a solvent white victory, a new stylistic proposal by Zidane and a footballer to whom this new path opened by the Marseille is great: Marcelo. Zidane’s 3-4-3 against the Bordalás team largely freed the Brazilian from defensive tasks and It allowed him to focus on what he does best: overflowing imagination in the final third of the field to damage the opponent from a mixed position, between lane and inside, with total freedom.
Marcelo gave 74 passes against Getafe, 63 of them good, 85%; more than half of his ball movements were in rival territory (40) and gave him to shoot twice, recover five balls (lost 15) and give five potential assists, of which one ended up crystallizing in Mendy’s 2-0, after a measured center from ’12’. Curiously, in a match in which he distinguished himself by his inner game and his constant diagonals, As he did more damage, he appeared in space on his side to sentence the white victory.
The party was not complete, as he left in 86 ‘physically touched, with discomfort in the left calf. The tests he will undergo on Thursday will determine how serious the problem is, a stick for Marcelo the day he had stuck his head out after months without having the chance to do so. Until this game, the Brazilian had barely played 752 minutes, by 2,027 ‘by Mendy. The French has clearly won the battle, something that already happened last year: Marcelo started playing more, but over time Zidane surrendered to the defensive rigor of the former Lyon player (it cost 48 million euros), who beat Marcelo in almost 600 minutes at the end of 2019-20 .
The 2020-21 course accentuated the trend and deepened Marcelo’s misfortune: between September and December, he started only in seven games, of which Madrid won only two, drew one and lost four. The association of ideas became evident: with Marcelo, Madrid were weaker. Flying overhead, with data to support it, the idea that the Brazilian was a sacrifice in defense that long ago compensated for everything he contributed in the rival field, an offensive return to which the full-back, out of shape and without rhythm, could not reach.
Marcelo, who ends his contract with Real Madrid in 2022, did not give up and began working outside Valdebebas with his personal fitness trainer, Adolfo Madrid; The results were already seen in Alcoy, in the Cup elimination against Alcoyano. Despite the defeat and the white humiliation against a Second B, Marcelo endured the 120 minutes with good marks and gave the assistance of the only white goal, to Militao. Against Getafe, Zidane turned to him out of necessity in the face of numerous injuries, but found a new version of the Brazilian, driven by the novel system, which opens a new path of possibilities for what is to come.
Marcelo, Juande Ramos and a not so new position
It is not a position, in any case, that catches Marcelo new: he already played there for much of the 2008-09 season, under the command of Juande Ramos. The coach, with Heinze as a safer alternative for the left-back and in need of means to energize the Madrid midfield (at that time, the names that made it up were Gago, the two Diarra, Sneijder, Guti …), pulled the Brazilian as inside left, with great results. It was an important part of that Madrid between the wars that chained 17 victories and a draw in 18 days, playing a League against Guardiola’s Barcelona that would end with 2-6 at the Bernabéu. Marcelo also showed his good manners against the rival goal at that time, with four goals in that streak.