A striker returns to the Bernabeu three years later. The former Madrid player hasn't scored a league goal in four years. At Alaves, he barely plays. At 33, he has seven matches left to try to earn his spot on the team.
Alaves arrive this Tuesday at the Santiago Bernabeu needing to get a good result to ease their precarious position in the standings. Quique Sanchez Flores only has the absences of Carlos Protesoni and Abde Rebbach. In the traveling party that will leave tomorrow for the capital will be, barring surprises, Mariano Diaz.
The striker returns to Chamartin 1,052 days after his last match there. Since the final matchday of 2022/23 against Athletic, he has not set foot on the Bernabeu pitch.
June 4, 2023, was his last match as a Real Madrid player, although he did not get any minutes and watched the draw against Athletic from the bench.
Sevilla came to the player's rescue the following season, but he could not participate due to injury in either of the two matches against the white team, and after nearly three years, he will be reunited this Tuesday with many acquaintances he left behind from his six seasons in Madrid's first team.
His adventure at Sevilla did not meet expectations, and after spending a year without playing, Alaves bet on Mariano last summer. But his time in Vitoria also has many more shadows than lights. He has not yet scored in the league.
He was left out of matchday squads for three months following an incident in training with Eduardo Coudet, and his situation has not changed much since Quique's arrival, although at least he is back on the team sheet.
The Madrid-born coach, who already had him under his orders at Sevilla, gave him the final 15 minutes in his debut at Mestalla. He came on with the score at 2-1 against them, but his performance was again far from what is expected of him. He wasted a clear scoring chance and showed signs of his lack of match fitness.
The match ended in defeat for Alaves, and he has not had any minutes since then. The good form of Boye and Toni Martinez, along with the emergence of Diabate, has relegated him to ostracism.
Mariano, who will turn 33 in the summer, signed a two-season contract with Alaves. His situation at the end of the season will be one of the matters the sporting directorate will resolve.
Next month will mark four years since he last scored a league goal. It came during Madrid's visit to Cadiz, which ended in a draw. He still has seven matchdays left to break his drought. But it seems unlikely that he will even get minutes in what remains of the league.
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