Fran Garcia takes good advantage of Ferland Mendy’s absence in Real Madrid vs Villarreal | OneFootball

Only 66 hours after their 120 minutes and a nerve-wracking penalty shootout in a highly demanding match against Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, Real Madrid returned to action as they faced another difficult task of facing Villarreal at Estadio de la Cerámica.

In addition to the fatigue accumulated from the midweek, another way their previous UCL affected Carlo Ancelotti’s lineup for this game was with the injury that Ferland Mendy suffered in that game. The Frenchman was subbed out in the 83rd minute with a muscle problem and is expected to remain on the sidelines for 3 to 4 weeks.

In his absence, Ancelotti had two options for the left-back position for the game against the Yellow Submarines, i.e., Fran Garcia and Eduardo Camavinga. Ultimately, the Italian tactician decided to field the Spaniard in this position, while playing the Frenchman in his natural position in the midfield.

Garcia took good advantage of this opportunity as he put in a rather uncomplicated performance. Although he is more of an attacking fullback than Mendy, in this game, his involvement was largely limited to the defence, even though he frequently ran up the pitch to combine with Rodrygo Goes, Jude Bellingham, and Kylian Mbappe.

Although he managed a good passing success rate of 95%, completing 55 of his 58 attempted passes, he was not the creative spark that he could be from the left side of the pitch. This was quite clear from the fact that he put in only 1 cross on the night, and even that was not accurate.

On the other hand, he kept Tajon Buchanan and Yeremy Pino under control while defending, and Sofascore statistics show that he made 4 clearances, 2 interceptions, and 5 tackles, while also blocking 1 shot. Garcia also won 7 of his 8 ground duels.

However, one of his errors also led to a shot for Villarreal and could have ended up costing his side on another night and he was also unable to win any of his 2 aerial duels.

Thus, although lacking his usual attacking flair, the Spanish defender was able to do his job without many hiccups and helped Real Madrid get a vital win away from home. After being poor for most part of the season, Ferland Mendy has recently started to pick up form and has been playing the bigger games instead of Garcia.

Therefore, this performance from the Spanish fullback can prove to be important in quest of more minutes going forward.