Playing in the Champions League is a maximum challenge that requires the best players. Especially if an Inter Milan team arrives in front of them with the label of European runners-up and the label of leader of Serie A with full victories. The experience accumulated in recent years in confrontations against rivals of the stature of Naples, Manchester United, PSV, Monaco, Leipzig or Rome should serve to stand up to any rival, but a leader is always needed to command the hosts. This one responds to the name of Take Kubo.
The Japanese league start has surprised many. Especially to those who do not follow Real much and who only see it when the big lights shine on it, as was the case at the Bernabéu. Because his last season was simply fantastic, with ten goals and ten assists that made him the best U-21 in the League with the permission of Gabri Veiga.
But what is happening now is simply extraordinary. In ten years, since Carlos Vela scored 21 goals and 20 assists, nothing like this has been seen in Real. And not so much because of the numbers as because of his influence on the game and the difficulty of rivals stopping him. It drove Real Madrid crazy and the best example is that Tchouaméni and Fran García saw the card for knocking him down violently.
The team lacks a forward who makes the difference to take advantage of all the offensive flow it generates
His form is so good that right now the Real team is Kubo and ten others. It’s a shame that the team lacks a center forward who can make the difference to take advantage of all the offensive flow that he is generating, because rarely has a footballer been more decisive in breaking one-on-one in the last third of the field. Perhaps also the absence of that ‘nine’ is what has loaded him with greater responsibility to face and overflow.
So far in the League it has been decisive. Against Girona he was the scorer of the goal and against Celta he gave it to Barrenetxea after reaching the baseline and centering with his right foot. On the fourth matchday against Granada he scored a double and participated in the previous action of a third, which Miki Bosch scored in his own goal when trying to cut the center of the ’14’ to Oyarzabal.
At the Bernabéu he offered an exhibition before the break with two crosses, to Barrenetxea in the goal and to Merino, whose shot was saved in an incredible way by Kepa, in which he combined speed and skill to get away from the opponent beforehand and vision of the game and temperance to put it in the right place at the right time. The lack of a shot prevented Real from scoring but he was undoubtedly the best of all those who stepped on the pitch by far over the next one.
The start of the Japanese has surprised some, but last season he already scored ten goals and ten assists
La Real clings to its moment of play to dream of hurting Inter. Playing in the Champions League means being on the best stages and facing the most representative clubs in Europe. The rival is scary with Mkhitaryan, Lautaro, Barella, Calhanoglu, Dimarco, Dumfries, Thuram and company. But footballers like Kubo are at that level and now he just has to prove it. Last week he was key in Japan’s 1-4 win over Germany in Wolfsburg with two trademark assists.
A round operation
The player and the club have fed each other in a convergence that has been positive for both parties. Kubo had not finished breaking through his time in the League. Not in Mallorca, not in Villarreal or in Getafe. He looked like one of those broken toys that promised to take over the world and ended up being forgotten. But Olabe put his trust in him and moved quickly to sign him for 6.5 million just a year ago. A real bargain based on the performance he is giving.
In an environment of trust, without having to pack his bags every summer and with teammates with whom he shares the same playing philosophy, he has exploded to confirm the predictions of all those who saw something different in him. At 22 years old he has a whole career ahead of him. to build. The first season: this Wednesday against Inter.
