Jovic makes his case at Real Madrid

Carlo Ancelotti returned to Real Madrid with a clear mission - to extract the best from all of the talented young players which the club has invested in during the past few transfer windows. He's managed to do just that with Militão, Rodrygo and Vinicius, and now he plans to do the same with Luka Jovic. The plan is to help the Serbian striker return to be the killer striker which impress Madrid enough to sign him from Eintracht Frankfurt in 2019. 

Until now, Jovic's case has been archived - and almost considered an impossible task. Even Mariano, who only remains in the squad because he has stubbornly refused to accept any of the offers he has received, is ahead of the Serbian in the pecking order. But a new chapter appeared to ve unfolding for Jovic. Against Real Sociedad last night, in one of the most difficult games of the season, Benzema quit the field injuerd on 16 minutes (he will undergo tests today or tomorrow). Ancelotti brought Jovic on and at last we saw the killer version of the striker who lit up the Bundesliga. He set up Vinicius for Madrid's first goal with a neat passwith his back to goal and scored the second himself, a diving header from a corner.

Jovic in numbers

In the 22 games he had previously played for Madrid (462 minutes in total), Jovic had scored one goal and given one assist - the same balance he managed in San Sebastián in just 74 minutes. This season he had racked up just 106 minutes for Madrid and his only productive moments have been with Serbia - he scored in both of the friendlies against Qatar. With Madrid, he hadn't scored since 9 February 2020, in the 1-4 win at Osasuna. That was his second goal, he had opened his account in the 5-0 win over Leganés. Neither of those strikes were particularly relevant as they came right at the end of games which were already decided and which Madrid had won easily.

Now, with Benzema awaiting news on his thigh injury, it is highly likely that Jovic will be in the starting XI for at least one of the next two games  - against Inter Milan on Tuesday then Atlético in the derby next Sunday. Decisives games, but that's nothing new for Jovic - he was brought in to the starting line-up for the Super Cup in 2020 to cover for the injured Benzema.