The decline of Mariano

He was the man given the famed number 7 shirt upon the departure of the legendary Cristiano Ronaldo, but Mariano has struggled to cope with the pressure of following the club's all-time top scorer. His season has been a story of injuries and missed chances.

He scored an incredible goal on his debut against Roma back in September, but has since struggled to convince either Julen Lopetegui or Santiago Solari of his worth. Only Jesús Vallejo and Brahim Diaz have played fewer minutes this season than Mariano, who currently sits on 398. It's a very poor return for a man once dubbed 'the next Cristiano Ronaldo'.

And neither the squad's current injury plague or goalscoring drought has given Mariano any more chances in the team this season, and he has rarely even featured on the Bernabeu bench, yet alone in the starting line-up. He didn't train on Saturday or travel to Zorrilla on Sunday due to injury, and must be wondering where it all went wrong.