Grimaldo surpassed himself

Alejandro Grimaldo He is in the sweetest moment of his career. After eight years at Benfica Portuguese, from where he emerged as a legend, the Valencian decided to enroll in the project of Bayer Leverkusendirected from the bench by Xabi Alonso.

And under the orders of Tolosarra, in the sights of real Madrid as comfort Carlo Ancelotti, Grimaldo has reached the best level. Big words, as he only dished out 16 assists and scored eight goals in his final season at Da Luz. Unusual numbers for a defender left by the 28-year-old back on his way to destroying the BayArena.

For now, Grimaldo He has already equaled the eight goals he scored in 2022-23, his best season as a scorer, when we haven’t been in competition for three months – six in the Bundesliga and two in the Europa League. The latter, a great goal that opened the victory of Leverkusen about him Union Berlin (4-0) and it returned the aspirin group to the top of the table Germany.

No defender has scored more goals in Europe’s top five leagues. But the incident of Grimaldo goes further. Only Kieran Tripperauthor of six assists, his colleague Jeremie Frimpong and the getafense Diego Ricowith five each, exceed four of Grimaldo in what we do this year.

Or what’s the same. Grimaldo He is the defenseman with the most goals (10) in five major leagues, surpassing him Jan-Niklas Baste (Heidenheim, 9), Frimpong (Leverkusen, 8) and Achraf Hakimi (PSG, 7). A productivity that goes unnoticed by the national coach, Luis de la Fuentewhich includes the youth squad FC Barcelona on the list for qualifying matches for Euro 2024 against Cypruson November 16, and Georgia, three days later. This is his first call to the senior team.

“Happy and very excited to fulfill a dream with my first call-up to the Spanish team,” he said. Grimaldo after knowing the call. It is worthy.