Real fans celebrate new No 7’s stunner
MADRID: In a familiar scene, Real Madrid fans jumped to their feet and cheered loudly after a superb goal by the No 7.
Only this time it wasn’t Cristiano Ronaldo. The player being celebrated on Wednesday was Mariano Diaz, a 25-year-old forward from the Dominican Republic who had just scored with a beautiful long-range shot in the team’s 3-0 win over Roma in the Champions League
The fans started to get excited the moment Diaz was asked to warm up on the sidelines, and it soon got much louder. “I’m incredibly grateful for how I’ve been welcomed to the Bernabeu,” Diaz said. “I have a lot of respect for all the players who wore the No 7 jersey in the past. It’s not a burden for me.”
Diaz, a promising talent from Madrid’s youth squad, was re-signed by the club without much fanfare after a season with Lyon. His impressive performance in the few minutes he played in his first match back gave fans plenty of reason to believe Ronaldo won’t be missed as much as initially feared.
That was the impression Roma coach Eusebio di Francesco got after seeing his team get dominated by Madrid.
“This team has a lot of quality. If I were a Madrid fan I wouldn’t worry too much about not having Ronaldo,” di Francesco said. “They lost a great champion, but they have many other champions in the squad who can compensate his departure.”
There were indeed many signs in Madrid’s comfortable win to show that di Francesco could be right. Despite losing Ronaldo and coach Zinedine Zidane, Madrid faced Roma with 10 starters from the Champions League final against Liverpool.