Mariano Díaz unleashes madness in Comunio - coincidence or demonic possession?

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Mariano Díaz
2.580.000€+330.000€    -

J1

DL

22

What Mariano Díaz is doing is not a season start. It is the final twist of a film that many had stopped watching. For years, every time his name appeared in a fantasy market, many managers reacted the way you do when an Orange salesman calls you at four in the afternoon in the middle of summer: with indifference, distrust, and a bit of anger.

Now you open any LALIGA stats page and there he is at the top, racking up two goals, two assists and four shots in just 61 minutes. A goal involvement roughly every fifteen minutes, and all of it without having started yet.

This is no longer efficiency. This is turning up to the exam with ten minutes left, answering the whole thing, correcting the professor on a mistake, asking for an extra sheet, and leaving whistling before anyone else.

Mariano came on against the Getafe and was directly involved in the three goals by Alavés: he scored one and set up the other two. In matchday two, he again came on from the bench and took advantage of an error by Rayo Vallecano to seal the draw.

He had not strung together two matchdays scoring since 2018, and he had gone without celebrating a top-flight goal since May 2022. The last time he scored, Whatsapp was called Messenger, Twitter was called Tuenti , and the AI that existed was your cousin when he answered you about things you had not even asked him.

Mariano had not lost his goal. He had it stored away in a fixed-term deposit and now he is withdrawing it with interest.

Now it turns out everyone trusted him

Every pre-season was good news for Mariano's return, at least in the starting XI. His representative could sell you a fan in January, and every summer some article would appear claiming he was sharper, more motivated, and ready to get back to his best version.

The difference is that this time we are not talking about a brace against a team of amateurs during a summer training camp. This time LALIGA has arrived, there are points at stake, and Mariano is selling himself on the pitch.

Before the season began, practically nobody wanted him. In fact, many managers sold him the very same day the restart happened as soon as he appeared, like getting rid of an unwanted gift before the return ticket arrives. After four goal actions, more people have discovered Mariano than distant cousins when an inheritance is divided.

Now it turns out that everyone had him under control since June, that they had studied his pre-season in detail and knew exactly what he was capable of. Sure. And the 160,000-euro signing was pure precision scouting, not you slipping your finger while you were on holiday with a wet phone.

The fantasy manager is like this: sell the player, watch him score two matchdays in a row, and then try to convince the WhatsApp group that it was "a liquidity-generation strategy" and not a panic attack with Wi-Fi.

You messed up, Manolo. It happens to humans, even if it happens to you every matchday.

Will he be a starter or keep coming on as a substitute?

Everything points to Quique Sánchez Flores continuing to use him as a substitute, a formula that is working brilliantly. Mariano does not come out from the start. He waits for the opposing defense to be tired, disoriented, and thinking about how many points that matchday will bring in fantasy.

Quique does not make a change when he brings Mariano on. He activates the emergency protocol. In Alavés' dugout they should put up a sign that says: “In case of a draw, smash the glass and bring on the number 9”.

Two matches and two goals from the bench. At this pace, starting him could even be counterproductive. There are appliances that work perfectly until you decide to move them to clean behind them.

The competition has not disappeared either. Lucas Boyé is recovering, Toni Martínez keeps looking for a goal, and Aitor Mañas was the one initially chosen. Mariano is demanding a start, but his role as a spark plug is producing results so well that his coach could keep reserving him for second halves.

Mariano does not start matches: he unlocks them. It is the post-credits scene that completely changes the film's plot.

Should you sign him in fantasy?

The short answer is yes, but be very careful with Comunio's Law of Murphy: if you sign him by paying a fortune, he will stop scoring immediately; if you wait one more matchday "just in case", he will score a hat-trick and his owner will ask you for money, two midfielders, and image rights in return.

Mariano is in form, he has confidence, creates danger, and he has shown that he can score points even when coming on from the bench. His moment invites you to bet on him as long as he keeps a reasonable price.

The next test will come against the Villarreal. If he scores again, we will stop talking about a fun anecdote and start talking about one of the big surprises of the competition.

Until then, you can sign him, enjoy his moment, and brag if you were one of the few who trusted him from the start. But please, do not send the group the message “I told you so”. We all know you got him by chance.