Camavinga, energetic revulsive

It was the 58th minute of the match, when Kylian Mbappé (23 years old) was being treated in the Madrid area after a fall in a hard fight with Alaba (29), when Carlo Ancelotti decided to make his first two substitutions. In this way, Eduardo Camavinga (19) and Rodrygo (21) entered the field of play for a somewhat limping Kroos (32) (he came out of injury) and an ill-advised Marco Asensio. He quickly turned to Modric. The order was clear: he and Valverde would form a false double pivot (the Uruguayan had freedom of movement), with Rodrygo and Vinicius on the wings. The Croatian was released to act in the midfield, just behind Benzema. Just three minutes later, Benzema opened the scoring after receiving the ball from Vinicius.

The entrance of the young French midfielder was key in the Madrid victory. His energy, together with that of Valverde, freeing Modric, made the team stretch out on the pitch, increase the pressure around the PSG area, and the burden was in crescendo around the goal of Donnarumma. As time progressed and Camavinga settled down more and more, the pressure on the Madridistas’ upper block became more and more present.

In the little more than the 37 minutes that he played, Camavinga only had one mistake when it came to making passes: he made 15 of 16 passes (a success rate of 94%, only Kroos surpassed him, 49 of 50). His passes sought the bands (both Rodrygo and Vinicius received four balls from the Frenchman), he committed one foul and received another, but above all he was seen to be very successful in making decisions. Little by little, Carlo Ancelotti, one of the best midfielders in the 1980s, is molding the young French talent. A footballer who arrived on the last day of the market when all Madrid fans saw Mbappé in white.

Born in a refugee camp in Angola, he made his debut at just 16 years old at Rennais, already making his quality and above all his spectacular physique clear. His jump to stardom was precisely against PSG, whom he defeated (2-1) with his then-team in 2019. That’s where the greats of Europe began to follow him. Finally he was taken by Madrid, which begins to look for replacements for players as transcendental and as unique as Modric (36 years old) and Kroos (34).

The day after the game against PSG, launched a message through its social networks: “Enjoy the day, Madridistas”, accompanying it with a smiling face. In his first season in white he scored two goals (against Celta in his league debut and against Real Sociedad) and one assist (in the Champions League to Rodrygo at San Siro), but it seems that in the section where the competitions are played Camavinga, who wants to be remembered as a good person who won many trophies, is fully prepared to be in the starting eleven. He has to measure some of his interventions (a sin of harshness, something that Ancelotti does not like), but little by little he is gaining a place in the madridista horizon…