Gvardiol, the 125 million center-back who suffered Messi and a great goal to be the best young man in the World Cup

He suffered Messi, but that does not mean that Josko Gvardiol He is one of the best central defenders in Qatar 2022. And that is how he appeared in Croatia vs. Morocco with the header for the 1-0 defeat of the Europeans over the Africans in the match for third place in the World Cup.

Croatia lost to Argentina in the semifinals, so they play the game for third place against Morocco at the Alf Khalifa Stadium. Both are looking for that medal and Gvardiol opened the scoring with a superb popcorn header. Then the Moroccans equalized on the next play.

And Gvardiol had already been the protagonist in the match against Argentina. He made a mistake in Julián Álvarez’s play to make it 2-0 and suffered from the talent of Lionel Messi in the third play. Despite this, at the age of 20, he was grateful to have the chance to play in a World Cup and face his idol. “I was always a big fan of Messi. When I was younger, there was always the Messi and Ronaldo debate. And although most of the people in my living room were from Ronaldo, I was like: ‘no, I’m going to say Messi,’” he later admitted.

And found his revenge. Against Morocco he opened the scoring in the 7th minute with a spectacular flurry. Gvardiol fights for that medal, although he also establishes himself as one of the best youngsters in the world. “It would be nice to get the best young player award… but it would be even better to go home with a medal,” he said in the qualifier.

And Josko Gvardiol is already a protagonist in the transfer market. It is known that Manchester City is willing to pay 125 million euros to Leipzig for taking over the 20-year-old defender.

From Germany it is reported that Leipzig was not going to listen to any offer of less than 100 million, which is why Manchester City put 125 on the table, which would become the most expensive signing for the English if it came to fruition, exceeding the 117 million euros that they paid for Jack Grealish to Aston Villa.

The Spanish press assures that Real Madrid is also looking to sign the center-back, but they would only be thinking about it for next year and they are counting on Luka Modric to convince his teammate to wait for the offer from the Spanish team.

Gvardiol, the masked man from Qatar 2022, awaits a great future. He plays with that mask due to a broken nose he suffered in a clash with teammate Orbán in the match between Leipzig and Freiburg, just before he is due to make Croatia’s final squad.

Despite this, the manager Zlatko Dalik quoted him with only 10 days to go before the start of the World Cup. Gvardiol was confident that he would recover since he did not need an operation to recover.

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