Lucas Vazquez could be forgiven for thinking his time at Real Madrid was coming to an end. His contract ends on June 30, the day before his 33rd birthday.
In the first half of this season, despite being fit enough to make the squad for every game, Vazquez barely featured. In Madrid’s first 15 La Liga matches, he started just once, in a 3-1 loss to Atletico Madrid. All three of Atleti’s goals were headers and all three crosses came from Vazquez’s right backcourt. He was replaced before the hour mark. This was his team’s only defeat in the league this season.
But six months later, Vazquez was the standout player in the Clasico as Madrid beat Barcelona 3-2, all but confirming their title victory. This puts them 11 points ahead of Barca with six games remaining, and sealing the league double against their closest challengers also acts as an extra half-point, should Barcelona somehow come back at the finishing level. In reality, the title belongs to Madrid.
During Florentino Pérez’s first presidential reign, he declared that his team composition policy was “Zidanes y Pavones”. That meant superstars like Zinedine Zidane and youth products like Francisco Pavon – although, given the way Madrid played throughout that period, it seemed more like they were talking about brilliant strikers and defenders of inferior quality. The team has always been very strong and the “Galacticos” period was somewhat of a failure.
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Carlo Ancelotti’s team feels closer to what Perez wanted. The difference is that superstars, in general, are strikers who were signed at a relatively young age, and Madrid has molded them into the players they want. The team’s first three regulars – Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Jude Bellingham – were signed at the age of 20 or younger. Something similar applies to midfielders Federico Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga and Aurélien Tchouameni.
Others, like Luka Modric and Toni Kroos, were older and more established, but have now been around for a decade. Things are a little different in defense, but David Alaba and Antonio Rudiger were picked up on free transfers. Madrid have become more astute in the transfer market and have also built a team that epitomizes the club. But the players who feel most typically Madrid are two thirty-year-olds who came from the training center and who have remained there ever since. They have also been the most successful in their last two matches.
In the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City on Wednesday, which Madrid won on penalties, left centre-back Nacho was excellent, helping to teed up Erling Haaland and winning it all in the air. Now aged 34, the club captain has rarely been a regular, and has never been one of the team’s most glamorous players. But it’s footballers like these, who are consistent, reliable, versatile and embody the value of the club, who help you win trophies and cross the finish line in tight games at the end of the season.
Last night it was Vazquez’s turn. Right now, we view him as a full-back – although for much of his career, Vazquez has been a right winger capable of doing a job in defense. Against Barça, partly due to injuries, Ancelotti fielded a defense made up of three professional midfielders: alongside central defender Rudiger were Camavinga, Tchouameni and Vazquez.
Vazquez is not the strongest right-back in the world, but with his experience he largely makes good decisions. An interesting aspect of his performance last night is that when Barcelona attacked on the opposite flank – and with Lamine Yamal on that side, this was their main tactic – Vazquez did not concentrate on defending the far post but instead narrowed its position and tried to stop opponents trying to achieve a reduction.
It’s a bit of a risky tactic: if Yamal had sent the ball towards Robert Lewandowski in this situation below, Vazquez could have been surprised…
It paid off later. As Yamal’s pullback was about to find Lewandowski in his preferred position, lingering on the edge of the box, Vazquez intercepted.
But Vazquez’s performance was mainly based on his offensive ability, as he was involved in all three goals.
For the first game, he called for a change of play from Bellingham, then outwitted Joao Cancelo, driving outside and showing great persistence to recover the ball when Cancelo crossed his path – but actually went too far far.
Pau Cubarsi, Barcelona’s talented young central defender, did what you’d expect of a 17-year-old: he went down too early.
Vazquez played the situation perfectly: Cubarsi’s challenge was actually quite far from him, and other players might have exaggerated the dive. But Vazquez left his right foot long enough to legitimately win the penalty.
Vazquez scored Madrid’s second equalizer himself, smoothly converting Vinicius Jr’s cross.
It’s worth emphasizing how much Vazquez is tasked with stretching the play in the build-up: few right-backs would then have the presence of mind to attack the far post and apply such solid contact on a bouncing ball .
And for the winner, few people would want to achieve this series in stoppage time, especially since 2-2 would have represented a good result for Madrid.
But Vazquez pushed forward to give Brahim Diaz an option on the right, then sent a simple but perfect ball across the six-yard line. It was probably intended primarily for substitute striker Joselu, but he made no contact with his backheel attempt.
Bellingham, just as he did in the reverse match, fired home the winner in stoppage time.
“With five minutes to go, we were talking to each other saying we were going to win,” Vazquez said afterward. “That’s what this club and this badge stands for: we always want to win and fight until the end. We never give up.”
It was almost a business speech from one of Madrid’s most trusted foot soldiers. Bellingham was less reserved. “Lucas Vazquez, you fucking legend,” was his immediate reaction to X.
Bellingham, on a different planet from everyone else in the first half of the season, hasn’t been at his best this week. The same goes for Rodrygo and Vinicius Jr, with the forwards likely tired after a grueling 120 minutes in Manchester.
But clubs like Madrid, relentless winning machines, still have a reliable supporting cast. Every once in a while, one of them steals the show. Vazquez earned himself another medal – and perhaps a new contract, too.
(Top image: Burak Akbulut/Anadolu via Getty Images)