Bryan Zaragoza will remember this Sunday, October 8. Established at the forefront of the attack for the FC Barcelona reception, the versatile 22-year-old striker made the New Los Carmenes stadium vibrate… in just 17 seconds. Launched from deep, the young Spanish striker pulverized Marc-André ter Stegen from the start of the match, before performing a festival to eliminate Jules Koundé and offer himself a very nice double in just 30 minutes against the reigning champion, who snatched the equalizer at the end of the match (2-2).
A great start to the season
“I don’t know if I’ve seen him score a goal like that in training, to be honest it was a great goal. I was surprised”, his teammate Gonzalo Villar (25 years old) explained about him after the meeting. However, the young talent from Granada, trained at the Andalusian club, is not his first success. Last season, he stood out with the first team and was one of the key players in the Nazaríes’ promotion to the first division, notably scoring five goals and providing an assist.
For Granada’s return to La Liga, he remains for the moment the major asset of the attack of Paco López, the Granada coach. “We want Bryan to continue to grow and improve, we want the best for him”, he declared, after his big match against the Blaugranas. Since the start of the season, Bryan has been involved in his club’s only victory, against Mallorca (3-2) and remains on five goals and an assist despite the poor form of Granada, 19th and without a victory since the 3rd day. In La Liga, only Jude Bellingham does better with his eight goals scored for Real Madrid.
A very versatile striker, who likes to dribble
In excellent form at the moment, Bryan Zaragoza should now be on cloud nine after the announcement of his call-up to Spain, to face Scotland and Norway this week, in the qualifiers for Euro 2024. The Granada player was called up to replace the injured Yeremy Pino. A strong choice from Luis de la Fuente, who will be able to count on a player with a lot of desire, but who can above all provide him with options. Because Bryan Zaragoza is an attacker with great dribbling quality and is more than versatile. If he is starting to find his feet at the forefront of the attack, in the company of another attacker, he has also been used a lot as a left winger, as well as a right winger.
Last season he was even tried several times in midfield, as well as as a left-back to help out. But if he can play almost anywhere, Bryan finally seems to have found his ideal position: “I play for that. I play to dribble. I don’t play to chase the ball and I don’t play for anything else. I have played all my life in a small neighborhood and that is ultimately why I play well (…) The Barcelona players congratulated me a lot… and even told me to stop running in the middle of the match”he explained after his double, at the microphone of DAZN. He will now have the opportunity to shine for his debut with his selection and for a more than important rally in Spain’s qualification campaign for Euro 2024.
