The pages of Andriy Lunin’s book at Real Madrid are not over yet. What’s more, the Ukrainian seems determined to expand them or, in any case, that these new lines as a starter allow him to find a powerful team on the market next summer. Benito Villamarín was a turning point. It was a priori the most complicated game that Madrid had left in 2023 and Ancelotti opted for the Slav instead of Kepa, already fully recovered. A declaration of intentions that could be endorsed in Berlin if in an eleven with notable rotations the chosen goalkeeper is the Basque…
Ancelotti sees no reason to return Lunin to the bench because the Ukrainian has become stronger. He has a much better percentage of saves (86 percent) than his competitor (Kepa drops to 77%) and he makes them when there are more lights. His two interventions against Betis, including that handball in the very last play of the game, prove that he feels safe. A solidity radically different from that of last season, when appearing in dribs and drabs undermined his confidence, with those four goals with five shots in Montilivi with Taty Castellanos’ directorial poker that could have been his footballing epitaph in Madrid.
Lunin’s stop to Chadi in the last play of the 1-1 against Betis.TONI RODRIGUEZDIARIO AS
The technical staff was suspicious of him, also from what was seen in Valdebebas, and the Ukrainian international himself considered leaving in search of more fertile fields to establish himself as a starter. Her own wife, not very discreet on social media about her husband’s professional affairs, hinted that they wanted to leave. In mid-November and on the eve of Lunin’s start against Valencia, Anastasia put a viral blow in her husband’s wheels. “If there is a club that allows him to play, I think we will leave, we are ready to move,” she wrote on Instagram. It showed little hope that Andriy would continue playing once Kepa recovered from his injury.
But football, sometimes, has its own twists and turns. And in this one, Lunin is finally being able to show himself. To Madrid, with that penalty saved against Braga and with three clean sheets (Braga, Cádiz and Granada), and whoever may love him in the summer. Then he will be back, barring a twist in the script, in the same situation in which he started last August: under the dark and prolonged shadow of Courtois. At 25 years old…
Lunin and Kepa exercise on the grass of the Berlin Olympic Stadium. JESUS ALVAREZ ORIHUELADIARIO AS
But there are many months left for that. Before, there is a lot of fabric to cut in Madrid. As guardian of the Madrid sticks, he has only suffered significant fire in the last Club World Cup because Tibu was absent. Lunin came out as world champion but not as a hero, with four goals conceded in the semi-finals (one from Al Ahly) and three in the final, from Al Hilal. He has no experience in the Champions League in games with everything at stake, nor in knockout rounds. This year, with Madrid already in the second round of this Champions League, it could be his debut in that aspect. A test for close and foreign eyes.
The Eurocup on the horizon
Another point, this one more personal, in which Lunin’s shares are trading higher is being able to be in the Euro Cup. Ukraine will have to play the play-off route against Bosnia in March and two other goalkeepers are entering the plans of coach Sergei Rebrov, Trubin (22 years old, Benfica) and the older Bushchan (29, Dynamo Kiev). Establishing himself as Madrid’s starter at that point would turn this internal competition upside down.
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2023-12-14 23:33:02
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