Despite Real Madrid winning four out of their first five matches of the season so far, Fede Valverde has not really looked as dominant as he used to.
Last season, he started off in a similar vein as this one – there were many performances during the short Xabi Alonso reign that were just not good enough. Even in some of Alvaro Arbeloa’s games, Valverde was not performing as well as he used to, and that showed up on the efforts of the remaining 10 players.
Valverde is the engine of this Real Madrid team. He works hard and tirelessly on the defensive end, and is always instigating huge attacks through ball progression with his carries. There are so many positions where Valverde has space to run into, but he simply has not looked up to the task.
Fede Valverde was finally great for Real Madrid vs Inter
Against Inter, everything changed. At least for those 90 minutes. Fede Valverde was finally playing like the Valverde of old. He was hounding opposition players with constant pressing, one of which resulted in a goal for the Uruguayan midfielder. Even if you remove the goal, Valverde was one of the best players on the pitch for Real Madrid.
He looked confident on the ball, and worked incredibly hard without it. There were so many moments where Valverde was simply putting out all fires, because he was ever-present. There was not a single blade of grass that Valverde had not walked on, and his dominant defensive shift only went on to show that.
All of this, while Trent Alexander-Arnold was unnaturally playing as a midfielder alongside him, was even more impressive. He had to cover a lot of ground, not just for himself, but also to mask Trent’s deficiencies.
It was known that the Englishman would not be able to track multiple bodies in a position he had rarely played in, so Valverde took initiative and helped him out on many occasions.
He still probably did not deserve to win the player of the match award, but that had a lot more to do with Thibaut Courtois entering God mode than Valverde simply not being good enough. If we are talking about outfield players, he was certainly one of the best ones on the pitch for either team.
Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come from the midfielder, who is finally looking like the player who deserves to wear the captain’s armband at Real Madrid.
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