20-year-old Real Madrid defender’s starting first-team debut marred by costly mistakes | OneFootball

After a disappointing 0-1 defeat to Espanyol in their last La Liga match, Real Madrid had the chance to recover their form in the Copa del Rey quarter-final match against Leganes.

However, some developments ahead of this game made it clear that this game was not going to be an easy affair for the Merengues.

First, Antonio Rudiger was injured in the game against Espanyol and will have to remain on the sidelines for the next 2-3 weeks. Similarly, David Alaba, who was expected to replace the German in the Real Madrid backline, also suffered an injury, which will keep him out of action for another few weeks.

With Eder Militao already out, Carlo Ancelotti did not have any first-team centre-backs available to play. Raul Asencio, who has proven his credentials with the first team in the last few weeks, was available, but a partner had to be found for him.

In these circumstances, the Italian tactician decided to bet on another academy talent, Jacobo Ramon, with a view to using him in the upcoming difficult ties against Atletico Madrid and Manchester City.

Thus, the youngster got the opportunity to make his starting debut with the first team, after having already gotten on the pitch for Ancelotti in a recent UEFA Champions League game against RB Salzburg.

However, the night did not exactly go as planned for the young defender, who was directly involved in the two goals conceded by Real Madrid.

First, he gave away a penalty for a handball in the first half, as he tried to block a shot on goal by Juan Cruz. The same Leganes player stepped up to take this penalty and made no mistake as he sent the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal.

Then, in the second half, he was unable to close down Cruz, as the Leganes forward once again took a shot, that was deflected past Lunin, with the Ukrainian getting wrong-footed because of a deflection by Ferland Mendy.

These two were the most glaring mistakes made by the young Castilla centre-back, but his lack of top-level experience showed in other aspects of his game as well. According to Sofascore statistics, he was able to win only 3 ground duels out of the 7 he was involved in. He was also dribbled past thrice in this game.

Overall, he also looked quite nervous, especially when the Merengues did not have the ball, and, sensing this weakness, Leganes looked to target him in particular.

However, he showed some positive signs in this game as well. For instance, he made 10 clearances, 2 tackles, and 1 interception. He was also quite proficient in the air, as he won 7 of his 9 aerial duels. His passing was also quite good, as he recorded a 92% success rate by completing 48 of his 52 attempted passes.

Thus, Ramon did not have a starting debut to remember. However, this one game is not enough to make his talent and quality subject to doubt, and hopefully, he will be able to eliminate the mistakes that are present in his game in the next chance he gets to play under Ancelotti.