20-year-old Real Madrid midfielder puts on another impressive shift from the bench in Copa final defeat | OneFootball

Real Madrid saw their most likely chance to win a trophy slip out of their hands as they were beaten by FC Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final last night.

After going a goal down in the first half, the Merengues were able to fight back and turn the result around with goals from Kylian Mbappe and Aurelien Tchouameni in the second half. However, a mistake by Thibaut Courtois allowed Ferran Torres to equalise and take the game to extra time, in which Jules Kounde scored to win the game for the Blaugranes.

Mbappe was not fully fit for this game, and thus got on the pitch only in the second half. As was expected, Carlo Ancelotti fielded a 4-4-2 lineup for this game, with Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo Goes being the two forwards, supported by a midfield of Tchouameni, Dani Ceballos, Jude Bellingham, and Federico Valverde.

As he looked to turn the game around in the second half, one of the changes that the Italian tactician made was to bring on Luka Modric and Arda Guler for Lucas Vazquez and Dani Ceballos.

Both of these substitutes put in impressive shifts, but it was the young Turk who took the most advantage of this opportunity to showcase his talents and ability to retain composure in such an intense game.

Guler played 65 minutes in total in this game, and his task immediately after coming on to the pitch was to help his team turn the game around. He did not lose any time getting started, as his arrival saw a visible upsurge in the Merengues’ offensive game.

As Sofascore statistics show, the Turkish midfielder was able to complete only 17 of his 25 passes on the night, with a 68% passing accuracy. While normally such figures would be unacceptable for any Real Madrid player, these are still impressive for the youngster as he had to make a lot of risky passes to help his team get a goal.

Ultimately he was able to succeed in this regard, as he took an accurate corner from which Tchouameni scored the second goal for his side to give them the lead for the first time. In addition to this assist, he also put in 3 key passes and created 1 big chance.

Real Madrid player Aurelien Tchouameni celebrating after scoring against Barcelona [Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images]

After the game against Getafe, in which he scored the only goal of the match, Ancelotti had complained that Guler does not win a lot of duels. However, he proved the Italian wrong in this game by winning 8 of the 12 ground duels and 1 of the only 1 aerial duels he was engaged in against Barcelona.

Later in the game, when the Catalans were once again on the offensive looking to get a win, the youngster also made several defensive contributions, making 1 interception and 3 tackles.

Ultimately, his contributions were not enough as the game ended in a heart-break for Real Madrid. However, his performance was still a positive one, and hopefully, Arda Guler will be rewarded for it as his team continues to fight for the La Liga title.