Wednesday, April 12, 2023, 3:07 p.m.
One can be concrete and mush within ninety minutes of each other. Dayot Upamecano (France, 1998) demands never to give up and last season he hired a physical trainer to improve his weak points. In terms of body he is a ‘beast’ with extraordinary physical conditions (1.86 meters and 90 kilos) while his mind is perhaps the one that sometimes plays tricks on him. Before Manchester City he was sunk by the mismanagement of his own failure. He can play many minutes at a high level because he has the reputation of being the best central defenders in Europe, but sometimes he disconnects and leaves the game. If he doesn’t correct him he will never be what he could be.
It is not the first time that the French center-back has been the eye of the hurricane of criticism at Bayern Munich or in his previous time as a member of Leipzig. And it is that sometimes instead of leaving Mr Jekyll he does Mr Hyde. A deluge of rude errors on his part ruined his team’s attempt at rebellion and makes City caress the semifinals of the Champions League. There is still a return to the Allianz but the defender, who was mercilessly criticized even by his coach, Thomas Tuchel, has a lot to correct.
The statistics speak for themselves about his worst night as a player in a big event on the old continent. The French international lost possession of the ball 15 times, a childish mistake of his made him practically give away the second goal to the English, the work of Bernardo Silva; he did not win a single air duel or on the ground either. With the ball he messed it up with compromised passes, and without it he was out of place and overwhelmed. “He lacked concentration. He made decisions with a lot of risk, “said the Bayern coach at the end of the duel. In the Champions League any gift is mercilessly used. The man who contained Mbappé in the round of 16 had to be a flan this time.