Marc Cucurella has already ended the left-back debate after just one start
Real Madrid defender Marc Cucurella got his first start for the club on Sunday against Malaga in a 4-0 win at the Bernabeu. It is no coincidence that Cucurella's first start for the club also resulted in the team's first official clean sheet of the season.
In the first two games of the new season, Real Madrid conceded one goal each, one against Espanyol and another against Real Sociedad. But against Malaga, they looked more defensively solid than before, especially on that left side.
Cucurella has yet to have a bad performance for Real Madrid, albeit he has only started one game. He has had two substitute appearances, which have also been really good.
In fact, he has been so good, and his competition has been so disappointing that the left-back debate has effectively ended after just one start for the former Chelsea man. Cucurella showed how much work Alvaro Carreras has to put in to get to his level, after just one start.
Marc Cucurella is great, while Alvaro Carreras is not - even though he can be
In 90 minutes of football, the Spanish left-back looked really solid at the back. It seemed like he had been playing for the club for a long time, and his performance went in line with the rest of the team.
He molded his game very well to complement the players around him, which is the best thing about Cucurella. He is a workaholic, and he moves around so well for a left-back.
His passing is crisp, his movement off the ball is also really important in sequences where Vinicius Junior is tasked with beating two or three players in one go. Having Cucurella overlapping while also covering for two players at once, essentially, as a left-back, is incredible to have for Real Madrid.
It is something that the club has been lacking since the prime Ferland Mendy days, and it looks like they finally have the left-back they needed for the foreseeable future. Cucurella will have bad games, and Álvaro Carreras will still get starts at some point during the season.
But in just under three games of the new season, the feeling around the club is, or the feeling around the fan base is, that Real Madrid's left-back has already been decided.
That tells you as much about Cucurella as it does about Carreras, and hopefully this is something that Cucurella uses as a motivational factor to improve his performances for Real Madrid.
