On Monday, Carlo Ancelotti revealed that Real Madrid had extended the contract with a key player. How important Ferland Mendy is for the Blancos is not immediately apparent to everyone.
Of the few minutes that best captured the myth of modern Real Madrid, a key scene was forgotten shortly after it happened.
It is the 2022 Champions League semi-final, the Whites are hosting Manchester City after a 4-3 away defeat in the second leg, but are once again behind in the closing stages at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. 5-3, in a manner of speaking. Rodrygo will score a sensational brace in the last few minutes of regulation time, and Karim Benzema will shoot the Blancos into the final, which they will win against Liverpool, in extra time.
None of this would have been possible without an incident in the 87th minute. Jack Grealish breaks through on the left, enters the box, and beats the almost unbeatable Thibaut Courtois. Centimeters are missing to make it 0-2, 3-6. Several Real defenders are caught out, the defensive midfielders are panting in the distance, but Ferland Mendy is there in time, throws himself on the line and somehow clears the ball before Phil Foden, who is ready to shoot. There is a moment of applause – but the headlines will be written further forward a little later.
These are symbolic moments for the now 29-year-old Frenchman, who joined from Lyon in 2019 and is now in his sixth season at Real. He has established himself as Marcelo’s successor at left-back, and yet somehow he is anything but that. At the press conference on Monday before the league game against Alaves on Tuesday, coach Carlo Ancelotti revealed that the Madrilenians had extended Mendy’s contract – the new contract duration has yet to be officially announced – and how satisfied he is with the left-footer. Outsiders tend to dismiss this as standard PR drivel and may think that the team would be even stronger with an Alphonso Davies, for example.
But if you listened to Ancelotti, you might have been disabused. “I don’t demand the same work from him that other full-backs can do,” said the Italian, which sounded exciting. And further? “He has no problems with the ball, he can also do offensive work, but we don’t demand that from him. His defensive level is very high. He does that very well.”
Mendy also allows Carvajal to express himself
Mendy has long been an absolutely key player in the balance in the royal game that is currently still being sought in some cases due to the departure of Toni Kroos and the addition of Kylian Mbappé. Just as Dani Carvajal used to play more cautiously when Marcelo cranked up as another winger, Mendy now holds the position and thinks more defensively so that Carvajal can express himself more offensively. At first glance, he seems totally unassuming, and yet his contribution is essential. It’s a simple balance calculation.
Even if you might occasionally get the impression that Mendy (six goals and ten assists in 176 competitive appearances for Real) would rather be substituted than risk a run down the wing, a sharp cross or even a shot, his place in the starting lineup has been fairly unchallenged for years. His value lies in his work against the ball, in strong man-to-man defense in duels with agile wingers, who Marcelo often couldn’t stop, and who a Davies probably often couldn’t stop. The others should attack. Real’s left wing is overrun enough anyway.