Yan Diomande gave Real Madrid the tactical discipline Vinicius Junior lacks

Real Madrid beat Valencia 3-0 in La Liga on Saturday night to make it eight triumphs in a row since coming back from the international break and going into the next one. Goals from Fede Valverde, Arda Guler, and Kylian Mbappé resulted in a comfortable win for Los Blancos, who would now hope for a draw between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona on Sunday night so that they're able to be just one point behind the league leaders.

It is easier said than done because Atletico generally fail to beat Barcelona unless it's in the Champions League, but it will be a very interesting match to follow in any case. In the Valencia game, though, Yan Diomande was once again really good for Real Madrid. He did not score a goal this time around, but he was able to influence the play in many different capacities.

He always loves doing the simple things correctly, whether it is to do with a simple pass so that someone else gets free or trying not to overcomplicate things when there is no need to. Diomande is always making correct decisions, even if they are low-reward decisions. That is something that this version of Vinicius Junior just fails to do because he either completely fails, or he doesn't try anything in the first place, which is the most frustrating thing about him right now.

That is also not the only thing that Diomande does. It is also worth considering that the Ivorian winger is consistently producing defensive output in every game that Real Madrid play him in. He is always running back to help Marc Cucurella, or even the right back if he's on that wing, to make sure that the defence is not outnumbered whenever the team does not have the ball. There were so many counterattacks that Diomande was able to stop all on his own because he used his blistering pace to get back to the defence and intercept the pass.

Vinicius Junior would either do it sometimes here and there, or he would not do it at all, which is frankly really annoying. It simply shows that the Brazilian lacks the defensive discipline and the offensive discipline that Real would require from the left winger.

Diomande is able to produce both of them in equal capacity. He is able to always be there defensively when the other team needs him, and there is no blip in his form to do the same. He always works hard, whether he has a good game or not, to help and support the team from defensive and ball-retention standpoints.

Vinicius Junior needs to figure out a way to do that because, even if he's not able to provide much in the attack, he can at the very least show some defensive consistency and compensate for his lack of attack in defence. When fans saw him at his worst against AEK Athens during the week, he was simply not doing that, and it just showed that maybe Vinicius Junior simply does not care at the moment.

It is quite a frustrating part of being a Real Madrid fan, but that is the sad reality: sometimes players don't want to do this. Hopefully, this changes in the future, and Vinicius Junior is able to revive himself and become the player that everyone knows he can be. At the moment, it just looks really bleak, which is exactly why Diomande must keep starting these games.