25-year-old forward emerging as the perfect complement for a star-studded Real Madrid forward line | OneFootball

Although they are yet to perform at their best level, there is no doubt that Real Madrid have one of the most fearsome attacking lines in Europe this season.

The trio of Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe, and Vinicius Junior is as good as it gets, on paper at least, and once they all start firing on all cylinders, they have the ability to get the better of any defence in Spain or Europe.

The last match against Atalanta was the first time that all these three Real Madrid forwards got on the scoresheet, and hopefully, they will be able to continue building on this performance in the second half of the season.

However, while these three forwards have the ability to get past any defence, they still cannot play all the games in a season as long as gruelling as Real Madrid have at their hands.

In such a scenario, Carlo Ancelotti will have to keep rotating his forwards, and the Italian is truly lucky to have a very competent bench for this purpose, as even if Rodrygo Goes remains a starter, he will still have the likes of Brahim Diaz, Arda Guler, and Endrick to replace these stars.

In the last few games, Brahim Diaz has particularly been impressive and has made his case to be a starter even when all of these forwards are available. Although he is not as big a star as Mbappe, Vinicius, or Bellingham, he has still been able to make very effective appearances lately.

This was particularly obvious in the game against Atalanta, as he started the match on the right wing, and his contributions in attack were as valuable as those of Vinicius and Bellingham. He got an assist to his name in that game, and it was his pass that Mbappe cleverly flicked past a defender to score the first goal for Real Madrid only 10 minutes into the game.

Beyond this assist, Sofascore data shows that the Morrocco international also gave 2 more key passes and created 2 big chances in the game. Similarly, he won 9 of his 12 ground duels and also made notable defensive contributions by putting in 1 interception and 2 tackles.

He also looked quite comfortable on the ball, and his ball retention and dribbling abilities were key as Real Madrid struggled to get past the high suffocating press put in by Atalanta in that game.

One can argue he has not had enough end product, as he has only 1 goal and 2 assists in La Liga and only 1 assist in the UEFA Champions League up to now. However, he has been unlucky in this regard as he has got in dangerous positions plenty of times and has seen several of his shots saved by the opposition goalkeepers.

Hopefully, he will be able to improve this aspect of his game going forward as well, and he can be an integral part of the team’s attack going forward, and play a role similar to that played by Marco Asensio when Real Madrid won the three-peat.