Real Madrod: Diomande finally delivers with assist and badge kiss against Elche

Yan Diomande has produced his most convincing performance since joining Real Madrid, delivering an assist, defensive industry and a moment of genuine crowd connection as Jose Mourinho's side edged past Elche 3-2 at the Estadio Manuel Martinez Valero on Tuesday night.

The 19-year-old Ivory Coast winger made his second consecutive start and laid on the goal for Kylian Mbappe to make it 2-0 before the interval, the first assist of his career in a Real Madrid shirt. That, more than anything, offered concrete evidence of why Real Madrid paid an initial £106m (€125m), with a further £13m (€15m) in potential add-ons, to land the most expensive African player in the history of the game.

The task was made considerably harder when Diomande picked up a yellow card in only the fourth minute for a foul on Tete Morente. Playing the remaining 85 minutes under the threat of a second booking, he managed his game intelligently while remaining effective in both directions, helping Trent Alexander-Arnold on the right and launching a counter-attack with a well-timed recovery.

The contrast with what had gone before could hardly have been sharper. In his first start against Rayo Vallecano, Diomande had left Spanish football's press corps underwhelmed, the Madrid daily AS running the headline that the Ivorian had 'left the Bernabeu cold'.

Limited playing time and competition from Arda Guler and Brahim Diaz had only amplified the doubts surrounding a player carrying the considerable weight of his transfer fee.

Mourinho had consistently asked for patience with a teenager only weeks into his first season abroad. 

AS responded to the display by praising his crosses, his defensive tracking and his willingness to get in behind the Elche back line, remarking, with a degree of irony, that he had left a genuine 'calling card' on this occasion.

Mourinho did not hide his satisfaction at full time. 'He is growing,' the Real Madrid boss said. 'He has very good work capacity, intelligence — because it is not easy to play 85 minutes with a yellow card. He has done a great job. I am happy.'

The moment that most captured the imagination, however, came when Diomande was substituted in added time. As he left the pitch, he kissed the Real Madrid badge, an image that circulated widely after the final whistle.

In a club where gestures of that kind carry genuine weight, the combination of a performance and a show of attachment could hardly have been better timed.

None of this, of course, guarantees Diomande a permanent place in Mourinho's starting line-up. Real Madrid remain a club of extraordinary attacking depth, and the manager himself has been clear that no player can consider their starting berth automatic while the squad contains the options it currently does.

The question now is whether Tuesday was the beginning of a sustained contribution — or another single point of promise in an adaptation still very much in progress.

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