From being a key player for Real Madrid for the past decade to being a liability – is Marcelo facing his end of days for both club and country?
Marcelo has been one of the very best fullbacks in the world over the past decade, and has shown a high level of consistency in his performances for Real Madrid, especially in the Champions League.
But the 30-year old has become too much of a liability this season, that his poor displays can no longer be ignored. Is it time to finally move away from him?
There is no doubt that Marcelo is an all-time great who will be remembered in the history books, especially for what he has achieved at Real Madrid, more so than with the Seleção.
In fact, Marcelo played an instrumental role in all four of his club’s UEFA Champions League triumphs, with trademark performances such as the one against FC Bayern where he was the difference maker for Madrid, by completely neutralizing Arjen Robben and offering brilliant offensive support to Cristiano Ronaldo up top, with his dazzling runs and dribbles.
But this season, it has gone all wrong for the Brazilian, as the stats would suggest. It is much more likely that Real Madrid concede more goals and suffer defeats when he is playing, than when Sergio Reguilon is. This means that the youngster is slowly displacing the veteran as Real Madrid’s first choice left-back.
Marcelo responds to Instagram post saying “It’s all my fault. We move on!” pic.twitter.com/vuwhyTFi5u
— Geechi Liberace (@FlacoRMCF) February 17, 2019
It is worth noting that Marcelo has never really done an amazing job for the Seleção. In fact, he came out of an awful World Cup tournament that saw Brazil’s performances improve whenever Marcelo was on the sidelines and was replaced by Filipe Luís. But as soon as the Real Madrid-man made his return to the starting lineup ahead of the decisive quarter-final fixture against Belgium, Brazil’s defensive weaknesses emerged again, as Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku had a free pass on the left-hand side.
The same can be said about what happened in the most recent El Clasico, when Marcelo was Real Madrid’s main weakness, as Barcelona bench-warmer Malcom completely owned him on numerous occasions, and was eventually able to score the all-precious equalizer.
Marcelo facing troubles for club and country
What is going on can no longer be ignored, especially when you take into consideration Marcelo’s displays at international level. The most logical conclusion is that he should be replaced by either one of Filipe Luís or Alex Sandro for the Copa América, set to take place in Brazil in between June and July.
Tite can also rely on the other options such as Alex Telles who is doing a decent job at FC Porto, but the priority should be to find two balanced fullbacks on each flank, so that Brazil’s midfielders can dedicate more of their time to play-making, whereas the attackers can concentrate their efforts on creating chances and scoring goals.
Marcelo is a legend of the game, and can never really be completely ruled out. But if form is being taken into consideration and if selections are based on the moment, then he needs to fight much harder to retrieve his starting spot for both club and country.
