Mendy makes Ramos' life easier Real Madrid More solid at left-back

With making much noise, Ferland Mendy has gradually established himself as Real Madrid's starting left-back.

When it comes to the attacking side of the game, Marcelo is evidently the better man for the job, but Mendy has proven to be a rock-solid defender.

The first person that notices this extra layer of security is Sergio Ramos. The captain was used to covering Marcelo's forward runs before, but now he rarely has to worry about any position other than his own.

In the 15 games that Mendy has played this season, Real Madrid have won nine, lost once and conceded just seven goals.

Meanwhile, Los Blancos have kept just two clean sheets all season when Marcelo has completed the full 90 minutes.

When you look back at the goals Zinedine Zidane's side had conceded with Mendy in the team, only one of them is directly his fault - Angel di Maria's second goal in the 3-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.

Another story in attack

Real Madrid know that Mendy provides much less attacking threat than Marcelo does.

In the 1,223 minutes the Frenchman has been on the pitch, he's had just one shot at goal - against Real Sociedad. In Marcelo's 826 minutes of action, he's had seven shots on goal.

In the assists department, Marcelo has made four while Mendy has let to open his account for the season.

However, Zidane has built his new Real Madrid team on defensive solidity.

Out of the big clubs in Europe, only PSG (15 goals conceded in 26 games) and Atletico Madrid (19 goals in 27 games) have more impressive defensive records than Los Blancos (21 goals in 27 games).