pony88 The 2023/24 season, under Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid has enjoyed great success, winning the UEFA Champions League, La Liga and Spanish Super Cup, while losing only 2 games in 55 matches in all competitions. 

In that team, many may focus on Vinicius, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo, the three attacking players who combined to score 64 goals. However, what many people forget is that Real Madrid also had a reserve striker named ‘Joselu’, a player who played the 14th most minutes on the team (1,675 minutes) but scored the third most goals on the team (17 goals), equal to Rodrygo. pony88

And without Sosélu’s two goals in the semi-final against Bayern Munich, Los Blancos may not have reached their 15th European Cup triumph.

Before the start of the 2024/25 season, Joselu, 34, decided to leave the team to play for Al Gharafa, a team in the Qatari league, while Real Madrid added two new strikers, Kylian Mbappe and Endrick, but that season, Real Madrid ended with ’empty hands’. 

Although it is impossible to find a connection that the absence of Joselu alone would cause Madrid to miss out on the four main trophies (La Liga, UEFA Champions League, Copa del Rey, Spanish Super Cup), one thing that cannot be denied is that the absence of Joselu has reduced the attacking dimension of ‘Los Blancos’, especially the lack of a striker who is good at playing in the penalty area or a striker who can change the game by using a header tactic. 

The clearest example is in the game where Real Madrid desperately needed a goal to ‘come back’ from three goals down to Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, but the 65 long throws in the game (2.41 more than Arsenal in the same game) were in vain as the team did not have a single striker who was good at heading.

However, in the era of Xabi Alonso, Real Madrid seem to have a genuine striker that they have been missing again. And that genuine striker is Gonzalo Garcia. The 21-year-old striker from Real Madrid Castilla has surprised and impressed by scoring three goals in four matches at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. In a way that Marca, a newspaper from Madrid, praised, “Who would have thought that by now, Gonzalo would be a contender for the Golden Boot (one goal behind Di Maria) with three goals in four games and his winning goal (against Juventus) was a genuine striker’s strike?”

The term “real striker” means that throughout the game he may barely touch the ball, barely participate in the game, not show any beautiful dribbling skills, but if the ball reaches him in the penalty area, just once, he will turn it into a decisive goal. And that is what Gonzalo Garcia did in the win over Juventus. 

In the game against the ‘Bianconeri’ last night, Gonzalo, who started his 4th consecutive game in the era of Xabi Alonso, touched the ball throughout the game just “15 times”, 4 less than goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, 86 less than Arda Güler, less than substitutes who came on in the 67th and 77th minutes, Kylian Mbappe (9 times) and Luka Modric (4 times), while the only Los Blancos player that Gonzalo touched the ball more than was Dani Ceballos who came on in the 89th minute.

But… just 15 touches of the ball throughout 68 minutes on the pitch, Gonzalo Garcia was the one who headed the winning goal for the team. The statistics throughout the game were 1 shot, 1 goal… This is a ‘small’ statistic, but ‘enough’ to make ‘Los Blancos’ advance to the last 8 teams.

“He’s a true centre-forward, he barely touched the ball for 53 minutes but when he got the ball from ‘Trent’s’ cross once he seized it with a powerful header. He’s not a very tall striker (182cm) but what he has is trickery,” As praised after the game against Juventus.

What Gonzalo Garcia got from Xabi Alonso is what every youth player in Los Blancos wants – a ‘chance’. But what the striker, who scored 30 goals for Real Madrid Castilla, coached by Raul Gonzalez last season, did, perhaps not every youngster does, is repay the opportunity he received immediately.

A goal against Al Hilal, an assist against Pachuca, a goal against Salzburg and a winning goal against Juventus are the statistics from four starts in the Club World Cup for the forward, who has been with Madrid’s youth team since 2014.

And apart from the number of goals scored, what many people admire about the play of this young striker is his determination, dedication, hard work in pressing and intelligent play, especially playing the ball with one touch, but can make a difference. A clear example is the flick of the ball in the middle of the field for Fran Garcia to break through to assist Jude Bellingham in the game against Pachagua and the one-touch pass for Arda Güler to break through to shoot in the same game, including the superb chip shot in the game winning Salzburg that showed his composure and instincts as a striker.

“I know him very well, but I wouldn’t say that three goals in four games is what we expected. He’s helped the team a lot, he’s scored important goals for the team and I believe in him,” Xabi Alonso said of the No. 30.

After the game last night, reporters interviewed Gonzalo Garcia and asked him, “How do you feel that Xabi Alonso compared you to Raul Gonzalez?” To which Gonzalo replied, “For me it is an understatement. I spent two years with him (Raul) (at Real Madrid Castilla) and during that time I learned a lot from him.”

“I am very happy. This tournament is something that I cannot explain for me. I am happy with the goals I scored, but I am more happy with the team’s victory. I tried to get into the penalty area as much as possible. Although my header is my best feature, it does not matter if I score with my head, knees or with any other part of my body,” Gonzalo concluded.

The next thing to watch is how Xabi Alonso will organize the team when Gonzalo Garcia is performing at a level that is “undroppable” but Kylian Mbappe, the team’s top scorer and last season’s Golden Boot winner (31 goals), is back in full physical condition.

The question was also raised after the Juventus game, but Alonso simply replied: “I don’t think about the next game.” ( pony88 )