Jose Juninho Season Awards: 6 June 2024

A Quick Word from our Sponsor — Jose Mourinho

Welcome to The Daily Merengue — a place where you can feel free to discuss all things football. Do not be alarmed by the overt RMCF bias. It’s in the name!

Shoutout to the Mods who do a fantastic job, Valyrian Steel, KungFuZizou, NeRObutBlanco, Felipejack, and King Juninho (the “boogeyman”).

Quick Commercial Break: KyKy, Kits, Luka Renewal

Ok — this DT is going to be kind of long so let’s get rid of some quick hits. 1) Mbappe is happy and performed against Luxembourg. 1 goal + 2 assists. 2) The new kits are fresh. The font and the v-neck are a little weird but overall Adidas did pretty good. The video / picks could’ve been a lot cooler tho. 3) Old man Luka is coming back to play another season with the kids.

Now it’s time for the……

INAUGURAL JOSE JUNINHO AWARDS:

SIIIUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!

(Applause)

Player of the Year: Jude Bellingham

Recent Vinicius exploits has complicated this decision, but a few months ago this decision was pretty obvious. The Jose Juninho POTY is absolutely Jude “The Kid from Birmingham aka BELLINGOOOOL” Bellingham. I know I know, Vini may win the B’Dor. Vini was the CL final goalscorer. Vini was equally amazing. I completely agree with all of that. But Jude was also simply superb. Early in the season as we scrapped by 1 goal wins, it was Jude who was breaking CR7’s debut goal scoring record. It was Jude’s celebration that we awaited when our backs were against the wall in the 90th minute. It was Jude who invigorated and completed the comeback against Barcelona in the first clasico.

Jude Bellingham set the tone for this season.

He gave us hope when Vini was hurt and Rodrygo went through his rough patches. He slid into tackles, carelessly through his body towards headers, and inspired his teammates to keep fighting despite a debilitated shoulder, ankle and tendinitis. And this is reflected through his Madrid-leading 36 G/A, La Liga POTS award, UEFA Young POTS, and Marca Player of the Season (voted by RM fans).

Long Live Bellingol.

Honorable Mention(s): Vinicius Jr, Kroos, Rudiger

MM Poll Award: Vinicius Jr.

Surprise Player of The Year: Andriy Lunin

The only real reason why I’m not giving this to Rudiger is because I already knew that Rudiger was the best CB at Real Madrid and just needed Carlo + the world to really discover that. So my surprise player of the year is Andriy Lunin. Andriy Lunin started the season as our 2nd GK and then became our 3rd GK and then after a Kepa injury grabbed the 1st GK spot and refused to let go of it until he got sick before the CL final. I’m not sure anyone had on their bingo cards that Andriy Lunin would pretty much lead us to La Liga title and CL final with crucial saves and even penalty saves (!!!) against Manchester City. He showed out against City, Leipzig, first leg Bayern, and many more. According to DataMB, no La Liga GK prevented more per90 goals than Lunin and for that he deserves our ultimate appreciation. I mean let’s also remember that he had Rudi, Tchouameni, Carvajal, and Nacho at times as CBs. Like god bless him.

Honorable Mention(s): Brahim Diaz, Gluten Free Carvajal

MM Poll Award: Tie — Brahim, Lunin, Jude

Most Improved Player: TIE — Carvajal / Brahim Diaz

This is a tie because I believe each equally deserves it for their own reasons. IMO Carvajal (without Gluten) is the best RB in the world. We already knew he could achieve this feat but I’m not sure we expected him to hand us the CL final with a header as well as put in key performances against some of the best LW producers in the world. Now, I’ll admit its weird to say that a 30+ player improved and maybe the eye test is wrong and he didn’t REALLY improve significantly but Carva made his presence known. He was a forward threat in a particularly left-lopsided attack but still put in shifts to stop players such as Musiala, Doku, Savio, and Raphinha. He also played CB like twice.

Equally deserving is Brahim Diaz aka”Budget Asensio.” Known for his dizzy runs (e.g., goal against Napoli last season), Brahim has continued to grow into a true impact sub at Real Madrid. HIs mazy run against Villareal, Messi-esque golazo against Leipzig, and funny sprint against Oblak should be rewarded. I’m not sure if we really need to ask more than 20+ G/A from a rotational player. Simply put, every time Brahim stepped on the pitch he made his presence known.

Honorable Mentions: Tchouameni

MM Poll Award: Lunin (but Brahim / Carvajal close behind)

Overall Season Grade:

I earnestly struggled deciding this grade. Going into the season, I expected a competitive La Liga title, an eventual CDR semfinal loss and then a CL quarterfinals or semifinals appearance. (Note: I never predict and neither do I really care about the Supercup). This team flat-out smoked La Liga in the long-run (though it was close until mid-March), lost early in the CDR (but to Atleti) and of course won the CL. This was a successful season particularly when considering the loss of Karim Benzema, the countless injuries, a few refereeing mishaps, and bamboozling scheduling. I mean we only lost 2 games all season…I’ll probably reflect in a few days or months and edit this DT to say that RM deserves an A+ for this season.

But something in me, thinks that an A+ only seems to reflect our end of the year results without really diving into the process. And let’s be honest, at times the process wasn’t pretty. In the CL knockouts, we only won on xG against Bayern. Of course that’s football where a bounce here or there is the difference between City going back to back and our 15th, but there were absolutely moments this season where Real Madrid didn’t appear like the best team in Europe or even La Liga. The CL final pretty much summarizes our entire season. Moments of sheer madness wondering why the team didn’t seem to be focused, haramball saves, and yet somehow we still prevailed.

So I’m going to settle for an A—. We achieved our goals but there’s surely some room for improvement.

MM Grades: Consensus is between 8.7 – 10 (or B+ — A+)

MM Award: Funniest Moments