Real Madrid supporters fell back on Sunday evening: the Merengues, without Kylian Mbappé (suspended), stumbled on Bilbao, the 4th of the Liga, before an exceptional goal signed Federico Valverde in the 93rd minute of the meeting (1-0). The Uruguayan midfielder sent a crossed half-volley of the law in the small opposite net to explode the Bernabéu with joy. And the followers of Casa Blanca still thank Zinedine Zidane for having installed the midfielder in the team.
Recruited in 2016 in Peñarol against 6 million euros, Valverde has evolved a season in the reserve team (under the orders of Santiago Solari, with Achraf Hakimi and Enzo Zidane in teammates) before a loan to the deportivo la Corogne. Zinedine Zidane was already at the head of the first team since he won three champions league in 2016 against Atlético (1-1, 5-3 TAB), 2017 against Juventus (4-1) and 2018 against Liverpool (3-1), each time with a midfield composed of Casemiro, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos.
“Zizou” then returned to the Madrid bench in March 2019, after the sidelining of Julen Lopetegui and the interim of Solari. During the offseason, he appointed Federico Valverde as the number 1 lining in the midfield at the expense of Marco Llorente, which was sold at Atlético de Madrid for 30 million euros. Six years later, Real fans are still having fun with the emergence of Valverde at the expense of Llorente or Martin Odegaard, little considered by the French coach and loaned to the speed Arnhem and then to Real Sociedad.
Zidane: “He has a fantastic engine”
After a rout of Real at the Parc des Princes against PSG (3-0), in September 2019, with a midfielder Marquinhos-Idrissa Gueye-Marco Verratti Master of events, Zidane gave even more playing time to the untenable Fede Valverde, then aged 21. The Uruguayan international started the second meeting against Parisians in Bernabéu for a 2-2 draw. “He has a fantastic engine, being present as much in attack as in defense”had then proclaimed the Ballon d'Or 98 in front of the press.
Since then, Federico Valverde has become an essential part of Real by Carlo Ancelotti in recent years. Versatile, tenacious to recovery, determined in the game and also dangerous with its enormous distant strikes, it is one of the best fields in the world today, at only 26 years old. The native of Montevideo scored 12 goals in 2022-2023 and is 9 achievements this season.
Zinedine Zidane and Federico Valverde in 2021.
