Former Dynamo Kyiv goalkeeper and coach of Ukraine's youth national teams Volodymyr Tsytykin, who is now the head coach of Khust in Zakarpattia, shared his opinion on the prospects of Ukrainian goalkeeper Andriy Lunin at Real Madrid in the context of competition with the team's new goalkeeper Kepo Arrizabalaga.
Vladimir TsitkinPlaying on the outs
- Perhaps Kepa is a little better at making saves due to more playing time in England. As a rule, goalkeepers have problems with their saves when they don't have game practice.
Rating: Lunin - 6 out of 10. Kepa - 8 out of 10
Playing on the line
- Line play is very much a function of natural ability plus training. Kepa and Lunin are both pretty good on the line. In England, Kepa showed that he has a good reaction and reflex play. Andriy, in his best games, also showed that when it's his night, it's not impossible for him to score.
Rating: I would give them both the same grade. Let's say 8 out of 10.
Footwork.
- Andriy is better with his feet than Kepa. I'll explain why: even before Spain, he paid a lot of attention to his footwork, and after moving to Spain, he started to play with his feet very confidently. It was noticeable when he was loaned out.
Kepa started playing with his feet when he came to England because he had no choice. He had to do it, even though he was bought from Athletic Bilbao for quite a lot of money.
Rating: Lunin - 8 out of 10. Kepa - 7 out of 10
Advantages.
- I believe that no matter how much better Kepa played last season, it was not so striking against the background of the failure of the whole Chelsea team. A good goalkeeper should have a more active influence on the team's results, but last season he managed to regain his place as number one. Secondly, he is Spanish. It will not take him long to adapt to the team, having teammates in Real Madrid.
Andriy has been at Real Madrid for several years. The coaches are well aware of his capabilities, but he has never been a long-distance first choice. Andriy had the opportunity to prove himself, and now Kepa has come from a strong team and he will definitely be played to test his capabilities in order to make a decision on him after the loan ends.
Disadvantages.
Kepa was not taken to Real Madrid as a second choice - this is obvious to everyone. With equal competition, Ancelotti will give Kepa the edge. He has publicly said that he has no choice but to rely on one goalkeeper.
In my opinion, it's time for Lunin to leave Real Madrid because the goalkeeper needs to play. A field player has more opportunities to prove himself. A goalkeeper has virtually no such opportunity.
If Lunin played in Khust, he would have more opportunities to prove himself, because there would be more rotation . At Real Madrid, we have rarely seen two equally good goalkeepers playing.
In Madrid, in every tournament, they set maximum tasks, so there is simply no room for experimentation in the team, except for pre-season matches in the summer, when you can give everyone the opportunity to play through a match.
This situation is similar to Bayern Munich, who took Sommer on an emergency basis, but we saw that he can perform well against Borussia M or the Swiss national team in major tournaments.
Conclusion.
Sooner or later Courtois will get better and Lunin will have to make a decision. In my subjective opinion, Kepa is not a goalkeeper for big tasks. His level is not enough for Real Madrid today, although returning to his homeland may help him to relieve his psychological burden, given the high pressure in England.
Ancelotti is not his own enemy, knowing that he will not have Courtois. His future does not affect the decisions that are made today. If he hadn't gone to coach the Brazilian national team next year, he would have done the same.
It's great that Andriy has a chance to train with the best every day, to feel the taste of victory and to acquire the mentality of a winner. At his next club, Andriy will be expected to do more, because he came from Real Madrid, and it is not certain that he will be able to live up to them.
Andriy's career is currently on hold. He is 24, and by and large, he hasn't played anywhere. A third of his career is already behind him. He just needs to play. Find a good team in Spain where he doesn't have to change anything in terms of his life or challenge himself and try out for another championship.
Oleksandr Karpenko
