• Chronicle Dani Olmo saves the pride of Spain in 92

  • Classification This is how the group from Spain is

Scoring a goal against Georgia with the Spanish national team shirt, so said, doesn't seem like a big deal.

But in this Spain of sudden -or not so much- anxiety, that shot by

Dani Olmo

in the discount, more instinctive than rational, more desperate than convinced, reaches the rank of national news.

Rather, it was a national relief, as the Catalan midfielder appeared when the accounts for

Qatar 2022

, after just two days of the group stage, began to show worrying results.

And so, Dani Olmo goes from being "that boy who left the Barcelona quarry to play in Croatia, what a madness" to "the man who gave Spain victory and saved it from a new setback."

Although it is unfair to focus on that goal, when Olmo has been claiming it for months with insistence and determination.

The journalistic temptation is to include him among the surprising bets that Luis Enrique is making in recent times -

Pedro Porro, Eric García, Bryan Gil, Óscar Rodríguez, Robert Sánchez

...-, but in front of them the Catalan treasures the conditions that always seemed required to wear the shirt of Spain: be an important footballer in a great European club.

Let's look at the data.

Olmo has participated in each and every one of

RB Leipzig's

games

this season: 38. If we add those he has played with the national team - all except the draw against Germany in September - the total sum is

47 games

, 38 of them. they as a starter, 32 with their club and six with Spain.

A figure that would be huge in any season, but even more so in this one, in which the tightness and demands of the calendar are filling the infirmaries of the main clubs in Europe.

PLAY IT ALL

So meritorious is his ultra-activity that no Bundesliga footballer adds more matches played this year and in the other four major leagues - in all of them more matches have been played so far than in Germany - he is only surpassed by 13 men, including international

Rodrigo and Pedri

, both with 48, one more than him.

In qualitative terms, his contribution amounts to

five goals and 12 assists

.

In this last record, he is the eighth player in the Bundesliga.

He is, in short, a decisive footballer for Leipzig to be making the best league in its short history.

He has reached this break in second place just four points

behind Bayern

... which he receives this Saturday, in a capital match for the outcome of the competition, which still has eight days left.

«When Dani decided to leave Zagreb, he was looking to be able to play in a great league for a team that could fight for the title and aspire to do important things in the Champions League.

He has found what he was looking for »,

explains his father Miquel in conversation with EL MUNDO

.

Because we must not forget that Olmo was already present last year - he changed clubs in January 2020 - in Leipzig that reached the semifinals of the Champions League after eliminating Atlético in the final phase of Lisbon.

With a fixed place in the Eurocup except for injury - he debuted in the last list of

Robert Moreno

and then

Luis Enrique

has always called him -, Olmo embodies the demonstration that there are many ways to reach the elite.

At the age of 16, he decided to bet on Dinamo Zagreb instead of continuing his progression at La Masia.

An a priori decision difficult to understand, but one that has been positive.

«Each person has to find their way.

A footballer has to be where he is really wanted and valued and that is why Dani has been guided throughout his career.

He has always prioritized this aspect over the sporting projects that were open to him to make his own decisions, ”emphasizes his father, a football coach for many years in semi-professional Catalan clubs.

When he was still nobody in Spain, he was already a star in Croatia, who tried to recruit him for their national team.

Now, he is one of the best players in Leipzig, a

city ​​in which he lives alone

, although his father visits him when he can.

Which, in times of a pandemic, is not much.

"He is aware that he has not done anything, that he has a lot of work to do and that he has to show with his performance that the coach can count on him," says Miquel.

And Dani follows her father's advice.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • sports

  • Spain National Soccer Team

Soccer World Cup 2022A goal by Dani Olmo in the 92nd minute saves the pride and options of the World Cup in Spain against Georgia

Soccer World Cup 2022 Punctured balls, bad grass, a team in a bad streak ... "I'm very worried", says Luis Enrique

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