Vinícius's gift and his golden replacement: has Real Madrid become a new team before the Clásico?

Real Madrid rolled into the Clasico in fearsome form, their attack firing on all cylinders across the last three fixtures in La Liga and the Champions League.

Twelve goals in three games tells the story. Los Blancos put four past Roma, four past Leipzig in the Champions League and another four past Sevilla in La Liga.

That single week topped what Madrid had managed in their previous six matches combined. They had scored just 11 across that stretch, a rate of fewer than two goals a game.

Here's the surprise: 9 of the 12 goals Real Madrid scored across their last three matches arrived without Brazilian star Vinicius Junior on the pitch.

The capital club put three past Roma after Vinicius went off, then did the same to Leipzig with a brace, on top of the four they stuck on Sevilla in a game the Brazilian missed through suspension.

Stranger still, Real Madrid have won 10 of the 11 league matches they've played without their Brazilian star over the last three years. One defeat, that's all.

Vinicius will again be missing for the upcoming Clasico against Barcelona. That might just be a good omen for Jose Mourinho's side, especially with the Brazilian's form on the slide.

Meanwhile, Ivorian winger Yan Diomande is enjoying his best spell since arriving at Real Madrid last summer from Leipzig.

The Ivorian has had a hand in 6 goals across his last 4 matches for the Royal side, scoring 3 and setting up the same number.

Five of those six came while playing on the left wing, the very position he is expected to fill in the upcoming Clasico.

What separates Diomande from Vinicius is not skill, nor even pace. It is the ease of his decision-making. He rarely weighs more than one option between dribbling, passing and shooting, as the Brazilian tends to do.

That quality shows clearly in the goals he has set up recently. These were not magical passes, but simple ones that suited the moment.

Yet this attacking excellence, which emerged specifically in the absence of Vinícius Júnior, does not paper over the defensive crisis gripping Real Madrid, whether the Brazilian plays or not.

Madrid have scored 12 goals in their last three matches. They have also conceded in every one of them.

Five goals have gone past the Royal club, three of them in Rome, plus one each from Sevilla and Leipzig. That is a rate approaching two goals per game, dangerously high.

Factor in the attacking power Barcelona possess and that defensive crisis could be the point at which the Clásico is lost, undoing every attacking solution Real Madrid have found.