Mariano, the Man Bought to Replace Cristiano Ronaldo as Real Madrid’s No. 7

Mariano Diaz steps into the void Ronaldo has left. Real bought him in the offseason from Lyon for a reported fee of €23 million, a figure reduced by 35 per cent because of a buy-back clause Madrid exercised on his rights.

It is an intimidating mantle for the striker to assume. Many of Madrid’s fans were disappointed when club president Florentino Perez didn’t make a marquee signing such as Eden Hazard,  Neymar and Kylian Mbappe who were linked with the club during the summerto replace Cristiano Ronaldo.

While the memory, too, of Lassana Diarra wearing the storied No. 10 jersey for the club to no great effect is fresh in the memory.

“I don’t think wearing No. 7 will be a problem for Mariano,” said Raymond Domenech, a former player and manager with Lyon, who also managed France to the final of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. “When I watched him, he’s the type of centre-forward who doesn’t seem to feel pressure. He always wants the ball. He impressed me by his capacity to fight. He’s a fighter. He wasn’t afraid to try things. He gives a team spirit. When you have a fighter like that, you follow him. At Lyon, he was an example for that reason.

“For him to take the No. 7 shirt at Real Madrid will be a problem for its supporters because when they will see him dribbling with the ball, it’s not Ronaldo. If they compare Mariano to Ronaldo, it will be a problem for [them].”

One of the attributes it appears Mariano shares with Ronaldo is self-belief, which helped him score 18 goals last season for Lyon in Ligue 1. His strike rate was on a par with Mario Balotelli at Nice and Monaco’s Radamel Falcao, and it was more than the 13 league goals that Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe registered.

“My understanding is that Mariano wanted the No. 7,” said Alex Kirkland, who works as a presenter for Real Madrid TV. “This is not something that has been forced upon him. He had the opportunity to wear the No. 7, and he said, ‘Yes, please. I’ll take it.’ It comes back to the kind of character he is. He’s got so much confidence in his own ability.

“It’s something that could be a burden for a lot of players, for a different kind of personality, but I don’t think he’s one of those guys. He’s the opposite—he’ll relish the chance to wear the No. 7. It’s an admirable quality. He’s saying, ‘I’ll take it on—the weight of history that is associated with this number and make it my own.’ It’s an indication of his strength of character.”

Kirkland likens Mariano’s explosive playing style—fast, strong and a direct runner—to the Brazilian Ronaldo, while stressing that he’s not yet at that calibre.

“He’s a matador, a goalscorer,” said Pablo Perez, a journalist with El Pais.“The only idea he has between his eyebrows is the idea of scoring a goal. He’s a box player. Obviously, if you’re a Real Madrid player you have talent, but he’s not, say, as skilful as Karim Benzema. If you take him out of the box, he can’t play combination football like Benzema, playing wall passes and so on.

“In skill level, he’s a rung below Marco Asensio, Isco, Luka Modric, but what Julen Lopetegui wants him for is to score goals. He’s the kind of player that helps to unlock a match that is tight.”

Mariano is returning home. He joined Real Madrid’s youth academy as a teenager in 2011, having grown up in Premia de Mar, a seaside Catalan town less than an hour’s drive from the city of Barcelona.

Mariano was sold to Lyon in the summer of 2017, having only managed to get limited first-team chances during Zinedine Zidane’s reign as Real Madrid manager. At Lyon, he flourished as part of a young, exciting attacking trident with Memphis Depay and Nabil Fekir.

At the back of Mariano’s mind, however, were always thoughts of a possible return to Real Madrid, says Kirkland.

It looks as if Mariano will make the most of the brief chances. He made a big statement in Madrid’s opening match of their defence of the Champions League against AS Roma on Wednesday. He came off the bench—in his first start under Lopetegui—by scoring a scintillating goal in stoppage time.

It was a goal worthy of Ronaldo and the other great No. 7s in Real Madrid’s history.

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