Why Retaining Lucas Vazquez Is a Key Summer Task for Zidane at Real Madrid

It was impressive and it was pivotal, but more than anything, it was just so Lucas Vazquez.  

The rain was hammering down in the south of the capital, and under gloomy skies Real Madrid’s immediate outlook looked rather similar. At the Estadio de Vallecas, Madrid were 2-1 down to Rayo Vallecano in a crunch affair and in uncomfortable circumstances: Lose or draw, and the league title was probably gone; heightening the difficulty were the absences of Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Casemiro, Sergio Ramos and Dani Carvajal, while Karim Benzema had just limped off. 

The stakes were getting higher by the second, and Madrid needed something, a lifeline. And it was Vazquez who gave it to them.  

Soaring into the air to meet Danilo’s floaty cross, the winger struck a sort of looping but pinpoint header from directly above the penalty spot. To get there, he’d beaten two Rayo defenders in the air. As he jumped, he’d taken contact, his body forced almost away from the goal. 

But still, it went in. Perfectly. 2-2. 

Real Madrid of course went on to win that game, and yet almost a month on, Vazquez’s act barely registers in the minds of many. Instead, Madrid’s escape in Vallecas is remembered as the Gareth Bale game—the day Bale threw Madrid on his back with no one else around and hauled them to victory. 

There’s nothing wrong with that. For what Bale achieved that day it’s deserved, but still it could have all been very different if not for the most-Vazquez of moments—one of pure effort and nothing else; a contest he should never have won but did; done in unglamorous surroundings and difficult conditions; when it mattered the most and when he’d been called upon; rising above others with bigger reputations. 

It’s that that’s so Vazquez. And it’s why he’s now important. 

As Real Madrid approach an intriguing-looking summer in 2016, Vazquez suddenly looks like a priority for manager Zinedine …

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