19-year-old goalkeeper fails to impress in his Real Madrid first-team debut | OneFootball

Real Madrid had a crucial tie scheduled today as they hosted Valencia in La Liga. Already trailing 3 points to FC Barcelona, the Merengues knew they had to win this game to keep up their chances of winning the league title.

However, things did not really go as planned for Carlo Ancelotti’s side, as they were defeated 1-2 by the visitors. Undoubtedly, this was quite a disappointing night for the Merengues, as most of their players failed to make their mark on the game.

Still, the one player who would have felt this defeat most keenly would be the 19-year-old goalkeeper Fran Gonzalez, who made his debut with the Real Madrid first team, and was unfortunate to see this special night ending in a disappointing defeat for his team.

Thibaut Courtois and Andriy Lunin were both facing physical problems and although the latter was able to make the squad list for this game, Ancelotti decided not to take any risks ahead of a crucial UEFA Champions League game against Arsenal.

Gonzalez did not make any horrendous mistakes, and could not have done much on either of the two goals conceded by Los Blancos. However, he was also unable to showcase his talents at the highest level, and thus let a good opportunity to announce himself to the world slip by.

According to Sofascore, he was the worst-rated player in the Real Madrid team for this game. He did not make any saves in this game and had a goals-prevented rating of -1.41.

Still, everything was not bad for the youngster, and he impressed somewhat with his passing, completing 15 of his 17 attempted passes with an 88% success rate. 2 of his 4 attempted long balls were also accurate and he also made 2 clearances on the night.

But unfortunately for him, his debut will be remembered for a demoralising defeat for the Merengues. Barcelona has yet to play their match on this matchday, and it remains to be seen whether Real Madrid will be punished for these three points dropped at home.

Meanwhile, Gonzalez will probably return to being the third-choice goalkeeper going forward, once Thibaut Courtois and Andriy Lunin return from their fitness problems. Hopefully, this will be sooner than later, as Los Blancos have a crucial stretch of the season awaiting them, and even one or two defeats can derail their entire campaign.