The 60th minute of the game is approaching and Vicente Moreno is used to moving the bench. One of the first players to leave the field is Tonny Vilhena, left back at Krasnodar, now winger at Espanyol. The footballer has played since the first day, when he already participated for nine minutes against Betis (1-4). Later, he has chained seven starting games with two wins, two losses and three draws for a blue and white team that has straightened his course.
The incidence of the footballer in the game has gone from more to less. He started like a cannon, decisive with his goal even though it did not serve to score, against Athletic (2-1). Since then, his impact on the offensive game has diminished. Compared to Adrián Embarba, a starter who has fallen from the team with the arrival of Vilhena, the Dutchman averages worse numbers in attack: 1.21 shots per game, 1.61 dribbling and 4.82 attacking actions. The man from Guadalajara, for his part, has an average of 2.17 shots, 4.18 dribbles and 10 attacking actions. The difference is in decision making. In the dribbles the new player has a success close to 80% for less than 50% of Embarba. This causes Vilhena to lose more balls, one of the aspects that Espanyol has been improving in this stretch in which he has reacted.
In the figures that are more related to possession, Vilhena also comes out ahead of Embarba even though she participates less in the game. The former Krasnodar player makes 10% fewer passes, but his accuracy is higher. Confidence played a trick on Embarba, as he himself acknowledged in a press conference this week. Espanyol also lives more calmly on the left than on the right. Although Vilhena has a more defensive profile than Embarba, the right winger is forced to defend more and averages more actions than the Dutchman. Rivals strike more on that side.
Vilhena arrived in January from Krasnodar, a club that may be affected by international sanctions on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Espanyol has a purchase option of 2.5 million, although it remains to be seen if the foreign players who played in Russia are released as a result of the hostilities created. Jhon Córdoba, without going any further, also a Krasnodar player, has been in Barcelona for weeks with his contract suspended.