It’s time for Andriy Lunin (1999). The Ukrainian goalkeeper is living his best days as a Real Madrid goalkeeper, after more than five years behind the curtain of the Merengue goal, with hardly any opportunities to show his worth. He has recovered, like his team, and is now Carlo Ancelotti’s starter. At least he will play tonight at the Metropolitano against Atlético. His expression has not changed and he continues training the same as when he did not play, with an almost sick dedication. “He is not one of those who enters the locker room and gives a smile”comment some of Andriy’s former colleagues.
Lunin has won over Real Madrid fans this season. With eleven starts, seven goals conceded and five clean sheets, starting with the role of substitute for the substitute, after Courtois’ injury and the signing of Kepa. In the month of December he ranked as the third best goalkeeper in Europe, in terms of the statistics of goals saved per game, according to data from Opta. His teammates and the technical staff recognize his high level. At the club, with Juni Calafat at the helm, they always believed in his abilities.
Even during his loan tour through Spain. Lunin landed in Madrid and went on loan to Leganés, where he only participated in seven games that season. Despite this, in the cucumber team they keep great memories of the Ukrainian. “He did everything to be a starter. He pushed as hard as possible. But it coincided with ‘Pichu’ Cuéllar’s best year. And that was also thanks to Lunin forcing him to be at that level”confess from the technical team of that Leganés.
His successful transfer in Oviedo
After that, his transfer to Valladolid. Of the seven games in Butarque, he played only two in Pucela. The experience did not bear fruit, and in January he changed destination: from Valladolid to Oviedo. A new assignment, which finally worked. “His time at Oviedo was what he needed in Spain to mature,” says Nereo Champagnethe goalkeeper with whom Lunin competed for the position.
The Real Madrid goalkeeper won the title. He played 20 games, in which he conceded 20 goals and kept a clean sheet six times. Lunin’s appearance was vital for Oviedo to save the category in 2020and in the Asturian city they maintain affection for the Ukrainian footballer.
The Oviedo journalist David Álvarez recounts in ELPAÍS the months of Lunin in Asturias. “In Oviedo he still misses the place he chose to live. Instead of a large apartment in the center or a comfortable chalet on the outskirts, he settled with his girlfriend in an apartment on a narrow street in the center of Lugo de Llanera, a town of 3,000 inhabitants on the outskirts of Oviedo, between an industrial estate and an airfield. The quarantine also happened there.”
Champagne, his rival for the position in El Requexón, explains how Lunin arrived in the Oviedo locker room. “Andriy was always very respectful and very professional. He spent hours training. He was very methodical, with routines. “He dedicated a lot of time to preparation, and today he has the prize.” When asked what he was like on the field, he also answers.
“He is a very complete goalkeeper. With an aerial game, very safe, agile, strong. And with a special talent for penalties”, reviews the Argentine goal. Anecdotes are also told about Andriy Lunin. Joseba Ituarte, goalkeeping coach for Leganés where the Ukrainian was, relives one of them.
A particular personality
“In 2020, when they told him that he was going to have a first-team record with Real Madrid, he called me in the summer to go train at his house because he wanted to be in the best possible shape. When I arrived, I found an uneven garden and with stones. I thought it would be impossible to work there, but he was convinced. We were there for five days of ‘preseason’,” Ituarte details.
In Valdebebas, people with access to the booth, value Lunin as a goalkeeper with great conditions (191 centimeters) and greater discipline, although with little presence in the locker room, something that can weigh on a goalkeeper and also on the coaching staff. “He is a boy of few words. He is not one of those who makes jokes or starts to talk. It is difficult for him to relate. But they respect him”they reveal.
Lunin will be Real Madrid’s starting goalkeeper against Atlético in tonight’s cup match at the Metropolitano. Ancelotti has not yet decided who will be his goal for the remainder of the season, but the Ukrainian is gaining more followers every day on the club’s noble floor. This Thursday brings one more opportunity, a double one, after so many years in the shadows.
