It must be a daunting prospect being Thibaut Courtois’ understudy. The Belgian is a world-class goalie who rarely gets injured, suspended, tired and whose fine form is consistent. After all, that’s why he became a Real Madrid player. But what does it mean for other Los Blancos goalkeepers – especially for the wonderfully talented Andriy Lunin.Since the start of the 2020/21 season, Lunin has mostly been sitting on the bench. He featured in just two competitive games – and both of those were Real Madrid’s away Copa del Rey ties at Alcoyano.PSG prepare a 300,000,000 euros worth package for HaalandThe goalkeeper arrived to Madrid rather unexpectedly as a 19-year-old for a fee of $9.35 million in 2018. He did great for his previous club Zorya in his homeland of Ukraine. It was a lot of money for a virtually unknown goalkeeper, but Spanish giants knew what they were doing. They were starting a project for the future.Lunin was loaned out straight away to gain experience of playing in Spain. He featured for Leganes, Valladolid and Oviedo, mostly in the Spanish second tier. And he impressed his coaches wherever he went. Not only he did his job well between the sticks but has also shown an admirable attitude and desire to learn the language and adjust to life in a different country.Andriy Lunin debut this season againts Alcoyano 🇺🇦 [06/01/2022] pic.twitter.com/BbX42IPpe3— LeonRM (@LeonRM010) January 7, 2022 Leganes goalkeeping coach Joseba Ituarte told AS that the young Ukrainian impressed everyone as soon as he arrived on loan in mid-2018.”He appeared when he was only 19 years old, greeting us in Spanish, he insisted that we speak to him in our language and after three months he already spoke it and understood almost everything. His mentality was very ‘Soviet’. He never stopped working. He didn’t mind repeating the exercises as many times as necessary until he’d gotten them right. Shortly after arriving, they asked me about his level and I said he was a goalkeeper for a Champions League team!”With loan spells done, Lunin was given the role of back-up goalkeeper at Real Madrid. But even though it’s a testament to his progress, it’s also a problem for the 191-centimetre-tall lad. He doesn’t get to play regularly and is thus stalling. He has a long way to go before he’s ready to play at the very highest level, but the progress won’t come unless he actually plays first-team football.🎙| Ancelotti: “Lunin was very good, he did some mistakes with his feet but he can improve.”— Madrid Xtra. (@MadridXtra) January 5, 2022 As a result, Lunin’s place on the national team has come in doubt. There are goalkeepers who may not be quite as talented but have earned the national team call-up because of their quality performances over the past two years.Real boss Carlo Ancelotti has been keeping a close eye on the Ukrainian and pointed out that he should improve his game with feet. Modern football dictates that goalkeepers should be comfortable with the ball at their feet just like outfield players.LA LIGA – Round 20Saturday16.00: (2.30) Levante (3.30) Mallorca (3.45)18.15: (1.90) Sociedad (3.50) Celta (4.70)20.30: (5.40) Granada (3.70) Barcelona (1.75)23.00: (1.35) Real Madrid (5.50) Valencia (9.50)Sunday16.00: (2.60) Rayo Vallecano (3.30) Betis (2.90)18.15: (1.60) Sevilla (3.70) Getafe (7.50)20.30: (4.10) Alaves (3.40) Ath.Bilbao (2.05)20.30: (1.75) Osasuna (3.50) Cadiz (5.80)23.00: (2.90) Villareal (3.20) Atl.Madrid (2.70)Monday23.00: (1.90) Espanyol (3.50) Elche (4.70)***odds are subject to change
