Marcelo Has Become a Leader to Finally Win over Everyone at Real Madrid

It was May 4, 2014. "We had an opportunity to close the gap but we've failed," said a frustrated Marcelo, his line one that not only summed up a collective situation, but a personal one as well. 

On the night, Real Madrid had failed to get past an out-of-sorts Valencia, drawing 2-2 and missing the chance to capitalise upon slips from both Atletico Madrid and Barcelona earlier that weekend. But for Marcelo, it was also more than that: Locked in a positional battle with Fabio Coentrao, the Brazilian had been presented with an opportunity to close the gap on his rival at left-back who'd usurped him, but after 90 minutes at the Bernabeu, Marcelo had done little of the sort. 

In fact, by the full-time whistle, he'd done the opposite; in an unconvincing display, he'd done Coentrao a favour. Afterward, some fans blamed him for the draw. Others wanted to see him go by season's end. 

It was a time when the Marcelo-can't-defend train was gathering speed, and even after he'd lifted the European Cup later that month, the pressure had evidently taken its toll on the Brazilian: "It's been a difficult season for me," he admitted, "only I know what I went through."

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Behind closed doors, only he does. But on the pitch, it was clear for all.

After an injury-interrupted campaign the season before—a season in which he'd been called overweight—he'd re-established his first-team place, only for injury and subsequent form issues to again strip it from him when it mattered most.

In the Copa del Rey final against Barcelona, Coentrao started; in the Champions League quarter-finals and semi-finals against Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, Coentrao started; in the Champions League final against Atletico, Coentrao started.

That was the difficult part.

And when, after the subsequent World Cup, he returned to Real Madrid following that game against Germany, it had become more difficult again: When the 2014-15 season began, it was Coentrao who started the UEFA Super Cup meeting with Sevilla, Coentrao who started the critical second leg of the Spanish Super Cup against Atletico and Coentrao who started the early league clash with Diego Simeone's men. 

From the bench, Marcelo looked on.

He'd become second choice. 

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But that was 14 months ago; 14 months on, the situation is very different. Marcelo is, too. 

What's transpired in that time has been an evolutionary phase for the Brazilian. For so long, despite flashes of improvement, he was derided for his one-way game, and his existence as a defender who didn't defend carried a certain irony. 

At the Bernabeu, the sight of opponents attacking through a vacant left-back position was seen all too often. So was the sight of Marcelo failing to track a runner, Marcelo making a rash challenge and Marcelo carelessly playing an opponent onside.  

As such, it wasn't so much his defensive skill that was derided, it was his defensive will—something that cuts deeper and is a question of one's character. And yet in the last 14 months, it's character that Marcelo has shown he has plenty of. 

After the multiple setbacks of 2014, the Brazilian has gone to a level most were convinced was beyond him. Recognising the flaws in his game, Marcelo has reined it in a little, a steady period of maturation seeing him strike a harmony between instinct and instruction.

Though he's still a potent weapon in attack who's critical to the fluency of those around him, his forays forward are now more calculated, as though he's more carefully establishing the degree of risk before taking a gamble. 

And in the process, he's stopped himself from being that—a gamble—for his manager. 

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Indeed, whereas Coentrao was once the classic you-know-what-you're-going-to-get-from-him option, Marcelo has fended off that competition and become that guy—just what you're going to get is a lot better. A lot. 

This season, the man from Rio has been perhaps Rafa Benitez's finest player alongside Keylor Navas. In a team that's battled for its customary swagger under the new boss, Marcelo has been a major source of thrust—he already has two goals and an assist—while concurrently making Real Madrid's left side significantly sturdier than the right. 

Notable, too, has been the impact of his recent absence. After he left the pitch early with injury against Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid fell in a hole; when they were without him against Sevilla, they fell in an even bigger one. 

It's left Marca to call him "a Real talisman." And recently during the summer, there was even talk of him ascending to the captaincy in the event of Sergio Ramos' departure. 

Of course, that didn't happen; Marcelo is not the leader. But he has become a leader, and that might be just as significant.