“… Of course, we all see Busquets when he’s receiving a pass 30 metres from goal with a marker draped on him, before ridding them with a drag back to shift them off balance. What Del Bosque refers to is the 90-minute experience of the lone defensive midfielder, to whom so much of the team’s equilibrium is tied, and whose many acts are almost too subtle to detect in the moment. While the team machine keeps functioning, the pivote can become a hostage to recognition. And when it breaks down, they’re among the first to hear about it. In current times, this process is fresher in the mind of Martín Zubimendi than anyone else in La Liga. …”
The Analyst