It's Time for Zinedine Zidane to End His Love Affair With Marcelo
By Tom Gott
Marcelo needs no introduction. The Brazilian is a five-time La Liga winner, a four-time European champion, a six-time member of the FIFPro World XI and an undisputed Real Madrid legend.
He's spent 13 long, successful years at the Santiago Bernabeu, but all good things must come to an end. For everyone involved, the sooner that end comes, the better.
As a player who deserves to be remembered as one of the all-time greats, Marcelo is doing himself no favours by sticking around at Real, and manager Zinedine Zidane is not helping by continuing to thrust the 32-year-old into the limelight.
The reality is that Marcelo is no longer the player he once was. His age has brought a decline in his physicality and athleticism, meaning he's now just an average attacker and a below-par defender who can no longer rely on speed to make up for his flaws.
In his five appearances this season, Marcelo has lost three times. They're Real's only defeats this campaign. In those three losses, Real have conceded a whopping eight goals, on top of another in a 4-1 win over Huesca.
The stats get more troubling if we cast our net even wider. Since Zidane's return to the Bernabeu in March 2019, Real have lost just nine out of their 57 La Liga games. Guess how many of those Marcelo started?
Yep. All nine.
What makes this even stranger is that Real are clearly aware of Marcelo's decline. Just a few months after Zidane returned, Los Blancos threw £47m at Lyon to sign Ferland Mendy, who was (and still is) seen as the future of the position at the Bernabeu.
Mendy remains unbeaten in league action in Spain, yet somehow cannot cement a permanent place in Zidane's starting lineup. Injuries played a part in that last season, but this year, Mendy has been glued to the bench for three full games.
There's no justification anymore. Mendy is fit, healthy and rarely even playing international football with France - Didier Deschamps prefers Lucas Hernandez and Lucas Digne - so he doesn't really need the rest games that Zidane is giving him.
Zidane's decision to persist with Marcelo, which involved selling Sergio Reguilon to Tottenham as well, has not only been detrimental to the team, but to Marcelo as an individual.
His reputation is taking an extra hit with every game he players, and the player who was once heralded as an icon at the club is now a source of frustration for fans, many of whom now cannot wait to see the back of him.
You get the sense that the club are waiting for Marcelo's contract to expire in 2022 to give him a natural send-off. 'Selling' him makes it seem as though he wasn't wanted anymore, whereas there's something more romantic about an expiring contract.
Unfortunately, nobody can wait that long.
Marcelo's legacy will be in tatters, Real will keep losing games and Zidane's future may even be brought into question, with some supporters already perplexed by his bizarre team selections in recent weeks.
While the boss' hands have been somewhat tied with injuries and COVID-enforced absences for a number of players, there's no reason for Zidane to play Marcelo over Mendy. In the recent 4-1 loss to Valencia, there was no reason for Isco to start ahead of Toni Kroos, and there was definitely no reason for Zidane to wait until they were 4-1 down before looking to his bench.
There are a lot of problems at the Bernabeu, and with all due respect to one of the modern game's all-time greats, they all seem to revolve around Marcelo.
It's time for Marcelo to move on. His 13 years of service will never be forgotten in Madrid, but if he stays any longer, the two years of abysmal performances will see him leave on a sour note.