Zidane offloaded him in the summer and he has scored 8 goals more than Ronaldo and Benzema

Having risen through the ranks of Real's academy, the Dominican striker left for Lyon four months ago in search of regular first-team football. The Ligue 1 outfit paid a measly 8 million euros, a bargain when taking into account his brilliant start to life in France.

He has already scored 12 league goals, or what is the same, three times as many goals as those scored by Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. They have only managed to score two goals apiece in La Liga. Mariano has also provided two assists.

The statistic is somewhat revealing, bringing to light the reason behind Real's goalscoring woes. Mariano, much like Alvaro Morata at Chelsea, is in fine form and is scoring goals away from the Bernabeu. He is showing what he is capable of when given the chance.

At the start of December he has already made more appearances (22) for Lyon than he made last season for Madrid (18), scoring a total 13 goals in all competitions. He only managed seven in the Spanish capital.