The classic is for Lunin, the shy Real Madrid goalkeeper who doesn't rest

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The Valdebebas curtain was drawn this Saturday and Thibaut Courtois was not on the field.

The sciatica attack hit him hard and this Sunday in the classic (16.15, Dazn) it will be the turn of the opening act, Andriy Lunin (Krasnograd, Ukraine; 23 years old).

Since the Belgian goalkeeper fell into the hospital 13 days ago, Carlo Ancelotti always took it for granted that he would be ready for the big event.

Every time he referred to it, he said that he was getting better.

This Friday, the club reported that he had returned to the pitch (one day late as planned), but on Saturday he was no longer seen in the 15 minutes open to the press.

"He has come out of the problem, but he lacks training," explained the Italian coach.

So against Barcelona he has no choice but to risk it with the Ukrainian, whose case he once again demonstrates a maxim:

It will be his tenth game with Madrid since he signed in 2018 from Zorya for 8.5 million and half of them will have been played in the last two weeks (Osasuna, Getafe and the two from Shakhtar).

He is still unknown on the field and, from what they say from the club, also quite a lot at short distances.

His recent performances have been as silent as the character they draw from him.

Nine shots on goal and three goals conceded.

Neither a blunder, nor an intervention to remember beyond a one-on-one with Lassina Traoré, from Shakhtar, which he partially disrupted.

Little more he is in a public file with very few hours of real flight in the elite before crossing Lewandowski.

Perhaps the most outstanding thing is his ability to stop penalties: three of the five that have been thrown at him in Spain,

The last time he had continuity was in 2020, at Oviedo and in Segunda, where he had been a starter since January.

And with his selection, with which he only has nine games, he returned this summer after a year and a half away.

For a decade, Madrid did not have a goal with such a big difference between the starter and the substitute.

Then there were Casillas and Adán, protagonists of a story that ended up being very tempestuous, nothing to do with this one.

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“It has been almost three years without acting and doubts may arise.

It is not easy for him because in every action he is going to be compared to Courtois, ”admits Pedro Jaro, who coached him in the national team.

“In the goal that he received against Osasuna [Kike García's hairdo, who entered the top corner], many would say: 'they don't mess with Courtois'.

But if this had been there, he wouldn't have questioned that he was unstoppable.

He was a bit ahead of the game, but that's how he had to be ”, develops the former merengue goalkeeper from the early 1990s.

With the Belgian on another planet and, until now, always healthy, the opportunities to test Ancelotti's confidence in Lunin have been few, although the little that has been observed has not been very encouraging for the Ukrainian either.

Last season he gave him air in the first two Cup qualifiers (single match) in Alcoy and Elche, but as soon as the slope got steeper, in the quarterfinals in San Mamés, the finger pointed at Courtois.

Five days ago, before Shakhtar, Carletto, who took Courtois's presence for sure in the classic, resolved a question about Lunin with his usual diplomacy.

“These [recent] games help him gain experience.

It is the only thing that it lacks, quality it has”, he affirmed.

Auction for a drone

What has not changed in these 15 days has been its facade, comment sources with access to the locker room.

An extremely serious guy, of few words, educated, with an indecipherable interior, mysterious, and with a great work routine, they point out.

"[Luis] Llopis [goalkeeping coach] stays in shape thanks to him, and not the other way around", summarizes from inside Valdebebas with humor about a goalkeeper who, they say, does not forgive a training session even arriving at dawn from a European trip .

A trait that they also noticed in Oviedo, in Leganés and almost anyone who has come across him in a locker room.

"I told him many times that at work not everything is about quantity," says Jaro, who remembers his "mental state" and "naturalness" in facing challenges.

Educated in the discipline of Eastern Europe and originally from the city of Krasnograd (20,000 inhabitants) -close to the four regions annexed by Putin a few days ago (Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson)-, in recent times he has been seen participating in acts in favor of Ukraine.

Before the Champions League final, he was part of the auction of a shirt signed by the entire Madrid squad and the proceeds were used to buy a drone for the army.

Intramuros of the sports city, however, clarify that he never talks about what happens in his country.

"If he needs something, we are there to help him," Carletto said the other day.

This week, for example, in the duel against Shakhtar in exile in Warsaw, with part of the stands occupied by refugees and at a critical moment due to the resurgence of Russian military attacks,

the goalkeeper tiptoed off the pitch.

"He is quite shy, he doesn't talk much," said the Italian.

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