The news broke hours before the cup match against Sevilla. Eduardo Coudet left Mariano Díaz and Moussá Diarrá out of the call. Rare players in the League, but with a lot of prominence in the previous qualifying rounds. Two absences that, far from being related to any physical setback, responded to a technical decision, something that Coudet himself recognized at the end of the match against Sevilla.
It remains to be seen if the Argentine coach reverses this decision ahead of the last match of the year against Osasuna, but it is evident that the Mariano’s situation at Alavés is very far from what everyone expected when the club announced his signing for two seasons. The Dominican is Coudet’s last alternative for the forward and even last Wednesday the one chosen to act alongside Toni Martínez was the youth player Aitor Mañas.
The reasons are unknown of the decision taken by ‘Chacho’ although something had to happen for Mariano not to even wear short against Sevilla. The ‘9’ did not have minutes for the third consecutive game during Real Madrid’s visit to Mendizorroza and everything seemed to indicate that the cup match of the round of 32 would allow him to have that prominence that he has lost in recent months in the domestic competition.
Mariano’s performance
Nothing could be further from the truth. With the winter market just around the corner, we will have to see if there are no news in his future. Mariano arrived at Alavés with the aim of recovering his best version, but has not finished finding the necessary continuity to perform at its maximum splendor. In fact, he has not been able to find the net in the 284 minutes he has played in his 9 league games and the performance of Boyé and Toni Martínez is far above his.
The last start of the former Real Madrid player took place in the defeat in Gironawhere Alavés had a very poor first half and Coudet decided to replace him at half-time. Since then, he has only participated in the last 10 minutes of the defeat against Celta and the last three league games without participation could have complicated the situation of a player who sparked excitement with his arrival, but has not finished finding his best version.
