Bryan Zaragoza has driven FC Barcelona to despair and convinced FC Bayern after just five months of first-division football. However, the young Spaniard has his own mind.
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Can one really believe Christoph Freund when Bayern's sporting director claims to have had Bryan Zaragoza 'on the radar' for a while? A player who spent the first half of the past calendar year in the fourth tier, whose first professional goal, scored in the second Spanish league against Albacete, is only twelve months old?
From then on, however, it became increasingly difficult to overlook the attacker, who is only 1.64 meters tall and had been overlooked for so long. Zaragoza, now 22 years old, does not come from a major youth academy, only joining FC Granada in his late teens, where he will finish the current season. Bayern are showing patience with a player who has recently been surrounded mainly by haste.
As soon as Zaragoza was promoted to La Liga with Granada in the summer - having been a first-division player for less than half a year - he established himself as one of the most promising attackers in Spain's top flight. Since October 8, 2023, one no longer needed to be Christoph Freund to have the rising star on the radar.
Christoph Freund recognizes in Zaragoza a 'dynamic, very fast and extremely agile winger' who is 'versatile on both sides, unpredictable, very good in one-on-one situations and dangerous in front of goal.' Spain's champion FC Barcelona fully experienced this on that fateful day.
A relentless dribbler with nerves of steel
Zaragoza toyed with the Catalan champion defense at will, handed Barça both goals against in a 2-2 draw, and narrowly missed scoring the 3-2 winner in the final minutes. What was special was not just what happened with Zaragoza's feet, but what went on in his head.
The extraordinary highlight of his still young career was, as 'Marca' wrote, acknowledged by the 'missile' more or less matter-of-factly, almost indifferently, certainly not overwhelmed. This was also how he had been before the game, which otherwise might not have been possible for him. 'I never get nervous,' he explained on DAZN, highlighting his remarkable coolness in dribbling and in front of the goal. Maybe it's because everything is happening so fast that Zaragoza hardly has time to think.
Updated: 03:19, 7 Dec 2023
