Mario de Luis makes his debut | OneFootball

The victory of Atlético Madrileño at Alcorcón's home left no one indifferent. The field management of Torres, the sharpness of Arnau Ortiz, the debut of Sergio Esteban, the starting position of Miguel Cubo, the reliability of Dani Martínez and Puric, the spark of Julio Díaz… but there is one name worth highlighting. And we saw it between the posts.

Mario de Luis possibly left even happier than others, and not just because of the victory. The goalkeeper, who joined the reserve team this summer from the white counterpart, finally knows what it feels like to win with him as the starter. And mind you, this is no trivial matter. The data was there: with him in goal, the team had not yet won.

Since we are not in favor of drawing conclusions based on results, we decided to watch the matches to analyze them and be as true to reality as possible. Against Atlético Sanluqueño, in the first match of this league, he was crucial in keeping a clean sheet with several high-level interventions due to his reflexes, timing to close down spaces against the opponent's attacker, and being a reliable presence between the posts. In Cartagena, despite a small error that resulted in a goal against, he was again reliable and showed signs of his defensive quality.

But in Alicante against Hércules, regardless of the result, he was once again up to the task. No, they had not yet won with him, but the feeling he personally gave me was one of frustration. Frustration because his performances were not being reflected in the results and, although this may sound opportunistic, I was completely sure that sooner rather than later, that bad streak would end.

And so it happened in Alcorcón. It was not just any match as we visited the home of a team that, although not having much luck in front of goal at home, remains a rival to be reckoned with. It is true that he was not very challenged in the first half, but it was in the second 45 minutes when he had to prove once again that he is indeed a goalkeeper of very high level for a Madrileño that aims for everything and wants more.

In the overall assessment of the match, he was reliable and, living up to the name of his position, a savior. The shot from Borja Martínez (formerly of Atleti Academia, by the way) became more dangerous as it approached his goal, but he did not hesitate to stretch to the maximum with both hands and deflect the shot.

In short, it's a giant mental step for the good Mario who, even though he remained calm knowing that the results with him on the field were not as he would have wanted, removes a small burden from his shoulders and asserts himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the Primera Federación. He will likely not repeat in Marbella since, by then, Esquivel will be back and, barring any surprises, the Estepona native will be in the lineup. But the level of the goalkeeping is more than assured. We celebrate for that.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.