Spain kneels before the great hero Luca Zidane

The Copa del Rey resumes this week in Spain. And while Las Palmas was fighting hard to overcome the modest Europa club or Espanyol was falling into the clutches of Unión Deportiva Barbastro, another showdown was taking place between Real Zaragoza and Granada, on the pitch of the La Romareda Stadium, as part of the 2nd round of the competition. A duel between 7th and 9th in the Liga Adelante, Spanish second division. We had to wait until midnight to find out the identity of the winning team. And it was finally Granada which qualified for the next round by beating Real Zaragoza on penalties (2-2, 4-5 tab). Adu Ares opened the scoring in the first half, Sean Weissman and Enrique Clemente's CSC reversed the situation, but the Basque club equalized again just before the break. In the second half and in overtime, the chances came trickling down until penalties smiled on the Andalusians and dealt a new blow to the Maños, still on a poor run of results.

The rest after this ad

But on the Granada side, a player well known to the French public was on the pitch. Indeed, since last summer, Luca Zidane has been the goalkeeper of the Alhambra club. “ Granada have lifted the clause for Luca Zidane, who will defend the red and white goal for the next three seasons. The club welcomes Luca Zidane and wishes him good luck in his new stage as a red and white player », It was written in the official press release. Yesterday against Zaragoza, he produced a performance which could well shake up the competition with Diego Mariño. Injured in the knee at the start of the season, Luca Zidane struggled to establish himself as the starter, even though he was coming off two full seasons at Eibar. Back in top form, Zidane had to use the Copa del Rey to send a message since he has only started two league games since the start of the season.

Savior goalkeeper and… scorer?

After his team's cup victory at La Romareda in this 2nd round, coach Fran Escribá commented in the press room on the tension of the match. With this result, Granada advances to the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey and can thus thank its goalkeeper, Luca Zidane, author of an extraordinary performance. Author of a total of 6 saves, he touched more than 120 balls and above all stopped Alberto Marí's penalty in the 28th minute, while the Andalusians were already behind after Adu Ares' opener . “Well, at first reading currently, with the tension of the game and so on, it is difficult to make a cold analysis, but hey, it is true that it was a match which in the first half became complicated for us, and that could have made things difficult for us. Even more so if they scored the penalty. Then we reacted well, we finished the first half well “, explained the Spanish coach. In extra time, neither team managed to gain the upper hand and it was logical that Granada and Zaragoza took the traditional penalty shootout.

The rest after this ad

And as if that wasn't enough, Luca Zidane also played a leading role during this session. In addition to stopping Enrique Clemente's attempt, the son of the Real Madrid legend took his courage in both hands to take charge of taking Granada's third shot on goal, which he managed to perfection. “*In the second half, knowing that there would be extra time, there comes a point where, as the match goes on, people don't want to make any more mistakes and that was obvious. Already with the penalties, plus the journey we took and the 120 minutes of play, at least we leave with the satisfaction of having won*,” concluded Fran Escribá. In conclusion, Luca Zidane saved a penalty during the match, saved a shot on goal and even scored his attempt during the same session. It's hard to dream of a better performance for a goalkeeper.