Gonzalo’s scoring emergence It was necessary to discuss it with illustrious attackers in the history of Madrid and that has been done by AS, who has spoken about the striker with three generations of white attackers from the youth academy: Joselu Mato, Javier Portillo and Adolfo Aldana.
Joselu Mato. The last pure center forward that the Madrid squad had, a youth player who arrived from Celta (he was signed by Ramón Martínez in 2009) and a key player in Castilla’s promotion to Second Division in 2012, led by Toril. By then he had minutes with the first team and he shone: two games, just 18 minutes in total and two goals. But he left to find a life in Spain and abroad until he returned in the 2023-24 season to, with a disruptive role, have an impressive year (18 goals in just over 2,000 minutes) and be key in winning the 15th with those two goals against Bayern in the semi-final second leg.
He worked a lot with Gonzalo in Valdebebas and this is how he remembers: “I already said it back in the day: when he trained with us it was seen that his greatest characteristic as a striker was his goal-scoring nose. What I like most about him is his Madridism, in the end he is a player who feels the colors and that is shown in every game he plays, he gives everything for the shield. Since he came up to work with us it was clear that he is a boy with many qualities and a goal-scoring nose. Impressive. In the end, to succeed at Real Madrid, apart from having football qualities, you have to feel it and I think that Gonzalo is a boy who, since I saw him working together, left sparks in training. It doesn’t surprise me at all, I am very happy for everything he is achieving and for his successes at the club.
Javier Portillo. The great example of a striker who came out of the youth system, through which he went through scoring more than 700 goals. Then in the first team he did not have the luck he deserved: he debuted with a great goal in the Champions League against Panathinaikos, but then he played 59 games for the whites, scoring 17 goals. The arrivals of Ronaldo and Owen left him without a place.
Now, after an extensive career, he is key in the sporting direction of Rayo Vallecano and from that position he analyzes Gonzalo’s explosion: “He is a very strong player in hand-to-hand situations, a center forward who knows how to associate in the game. He has a great aerial game and is a striker with hunger and ambition. He has a goal, but not only that, he also leaves a lot of defensive work. We must give him more opportunities. He already knocked down Castilla’s door at the time, then in the Club World Cup and now against Betis. “He is, above all, a center forward in the area with good technical resources when he is in it. But it is not only that, he is a very complete footballer and still has a lot of room for growth.”
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Adolfo Aldana. Raised in the white youth academy, Aldana left flashes of class over six seasons in the first team, scoring 12 goals in 72 games before leaving for Deportivo. And his first memory of Gonzalo is very clear: “I discovered him in the last two seasons and above all, in the First RFEF, with Castilla, when he came to Algeciras to play. Last year he was incredible, he scored four great goals here, each one in a different way. He impressed me. So much so that I spoke to my former teammate Santi Aragón, who is in the Madrid youth team, and I told him: “This boy is a pearl, he has to be with the first team now.” He He told me that he thought the same and that it would happen soon. Then he played in the Club World Cup and he did very well. His qualities are extraordinary, as a finishing striker and even as a second striker. When I saw him here I was captivated, he shoots phenomenally with both legs with his header… And if I were Real Madrid, I would take advantage of it like other clubs do.”
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