Real Madrid number 9, Karim Benzema, was the only veteran shining brightly amid the tumultuous and gloomy 2018-19 campaign. The Frenchman racked up 30 goals and 11 assists in 53 games across all competitions — an impressive return, considering the circumstances. His impressive season had already booked his place as the team’s first-choice centre-forward, but Los Blancos did the smart thing and decided to add an up-and-coming striker into the mix.
Young, fast, prolific, and affordable — Eintracht Frankfurt forward, Luka Jovic, fit the bill perfectly. At 21, he had the hunger to prove his mettle at a big club but didn’t mind missing an occasional game or two to the proven veteran, Karim Benzema. Los Blancos boss, Zinedine Zidane too, was happy with the opportunity to coach the Serbian and happily gave his green light. On July 2nd, 2019, Jovic officially became a Real Madrid player, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Zinedine Zidane is tough to impress
Zinedine Zidane is one of the most demanding coaches in the world. Always donning a shroud of humility, he may not reveal his appetite for perfection, but his players know how taxing his training sessions can get. From rigorous team-building exercises to focused attribute training, Real Madrid stars are required to pass each test with flying colours to be in contention for the starting XI. And no one, not even the three/four-time Champions League winners, gets a free pass.
Luka Jovic, who was coming off an impressive season — 27 goals and seven assists across all competitions — at Frankfurt, failed to comprehend the level of commitment Zidane demanded from his players, and quickly found himself near the bottom of the pecking order. There is no animosity between the player and coach, of course, but Jovic just hasn’t yet managed to have a shot at Karim Benzema’s undisputed starting place.
Sub-par performances for Real Madrid
Struggling to impress his boss, the Serbian sharpshooter has had a hard time getting minutes on the pitch. Zidane did allow him to make his debut in the first La Liga match of the season, but that nine-minute cameo wasn’t enough for him to make his mark. His first start came on the third matchday of the Spanish top-flight campaign, against Villarreal. The Red Star graduate was left isolated in the final-third and struggled to read the passes of Real Madrid’s decorated midfield. The match ended in a 2-2 draw, and Jovic found himself even further down the hierarchy.
The forward scored his first goal in a Real Madrid shirt against a hapless Leganes on matchday 11. The game was already in the bag when Jovic found the back of the net, rendering the goal impactless.
Jovic spent most of the remaining 18 La Liga matches — leading up to the COVID-19-enforced postponement — on the bench, adding only a single goal to his tally. His link-up play, distribution, and movements were below par, and the player did nothing to put pressure on the 32-year-old Karim Benzema.
To top it off, Jovic has also missed a couple of matches due to injuries. As per reports, he’s currently carrying a fracture and won’t be in action until July.
One final shot at redemption
Real Madrid, Zinedine Zidane, and the Santiago Bernabeu — the combination demands every player to sweat and bleed for the shirt, to keep pushing until the fat lady sings. The COVID-19 pandemic has muted Bernabeu’s intimidating presence, but the club and the coach won’t go easy on the new recruit.
So far, Luka Jovic has done nothing to win over his doubters, to show them that he deserves to play for Los Merengues. He’s been careless, wasteful, and even unreliable, provoking Madridistas to drool over Borussia Dortmund sensation, Erling Haaland. The remaining La Liga games could be Jovic’s final shot at redemption; the chance to land and stay in Zidane’s good books.
The Whites are desperate to overcome the two-point deficit at the top of the table and pull ahead in the race for the title. And Jovic, whose Real Madrid career is hanging by a thread, should embrace this opportunity to deliver, become the out-of-favour substitute who presented the 34th.