DBasia.news – Since the match between Portugal against Uruguay in the round of 16 2018 World Cup on July 1, the tiny player with 168cm height and No.14 jersey flexibly ran here and there in the midfield.
In one moment, the very moment that made people curious about him, he approached Cristiano Ronaldo just like a bull while seeing a red cloth and pushed him with a shoulder power, whereas Ronaldo is much taller than him.
The public got more curious about him. Perhaps the spectators would recheck their phone to see the squad of Oscar Tabarez and see who is the No. 14 player. The player who insisted on guarding Uruguay’s defense.
Not only his push to Ronaldo, his bravery in securing the ball while falling to the ground with his head made him viral in the social media. The supporters really enjoyed his performance, also he became the target of Europe’s talent scouts.
Tabarez played a diamond formation in Uruguay midfield and sent three young players and one senior player. Matias Vecino, the 27-year-old senior player and the other three are Rodrigo Bentancur, Nahitan Nandez, and No. 14 jersey, Luca Torreira. Eventually, Uruguay won 2-1 of Portugal, the 2016 Euro champion.
Lucas Sebastian Torreira Di Pascua is his full name. People usually call him Torreira. There is a special nickname in Indonesia, “si kecil cabe rawit”. In Uruguay, Torreira is similar to Garra.
The “Garra” term refers to persistence and bravery. Torreira represented it by his intention in guarding the midfield zone from the opponent’s attack. Arsenal purchased him this summer from Sampdoria worth £26M.
Ensured by many parties: Arsenal fans, media, and Arsenal legend like Martin Keown, Torreira is the missing puzzle piece since Patric Vieira left in 2005.
“I like the way he goes in. He pinches things. He brings that little bit of tenacity to the midfield and is more mobile. Uses the ball well; distributes it nice and calmly. He puts his foot in and I think Arsenal fans were up off their seats today to see that. That’s what they need in that midfield,” Keown said his opinion about Torreira.
Then, will Torreira remembered only as the ball stealer? Not necessarily. Analyzing him can’t be done only from his current performance in Arsenal.
Lucas Torreira
From Striker, Attacking Midfielder, and Comparison to Sergio Busquets and Marco Verratti
Torreira’s story isn’t the beautiful story with a wealthy parents, who sent him to a football academy. In his 16, Torreira’s high ambition brought him as to go abroad.
Torreira left his hometown, Fray Bentos, to leave to Montevideo. He stays there with his sister, Estefani, and rides buses every day to train. Torreira was a part of Montevideo Wanderers’ academy.
One day, Wanderers tried to send his players to Pescara, Italy, for the trial in 2013. His name wasn’t included in the player list leaving for Italy. For a weak player, they would be disappointed and hard to revive. But not for Torreira.
He trained hard for months, in a difficult situation: no money and just for a haircut, Torreira used the classic transaction method, barter. Eventually, a talent scout named Roberto Druda saw his talent and brought him to Italy.
The momentum happened while he was in Pescara. Since 2013-2015, he loaned to Pescara in 2015-2016, Torreira was lucky trained under the former right back of Italy national team, Massimo Oddo. He gave a great contribution in changing the positions of Torreira from the striker, attacking midfielder, and pivot.
That’s where public and media compared Torreira with the former Pescara player in Paris Saint-Germain, Marco Verratti.
“Oddo had the idea to move him from a playmaking role in midfield to a new position playing just in front of the defense. It is this one decision that has changed his career,” said former Pescara manager Marcello Donatelli.
Donatelli seeing Torreira’s performance gave the big comparison between Torreira with Europe’s best defending midfielder of Barcelona, Sergio Busquets.
“His technique, his determination, and his tactical intelligence always impressed me. He has always been strong in understanding those defensive tactical aspects and he is very mature tactically in terms of how he reads the game. After Sergio Busquets, he is tactically the strongest midfielder in Europe,” Donatelli said.
Certainly, Donatelli isn’t just bluffing.
The balance of Defense and Attack Transition
In recent seasons, Arsenal under Arsene Wenger always played by combining two pivot couples with a different role: Santi Cazorla-Francis Coquelin and Granit Xhaka-Aaron Ramsey. Just like the board stacked above, Arsenal’s midfield was a mess.
Torreira changed the situation. He isn’t only the midfielder and ball stealer, but also the attack creator that is really quick in building the terror. The club really need a player like him in this football modern era.
Plus, Torreira also has the vision with a high passing accuracy. In 2017-2018 Serie A with Sampdoria, Torreira did 101 tackles (the 3rd highest), 2188 passings (the 9th highest), and interceptions for 72 times (6th highest).
Considering the detailed statistic, Torreira belonged to 5 top passing creators in 2017-2018 Serie A with 1,907 successful passings with Jorginho, Marek Hamsik, Remo Freuler, and Miralem Pjanic. That’s just the successful passings, the tackle also the same.
Torreira was the second of five 2017-2018 Serie A top midfielders in winning the tackle, the rest are Lucas Leiva, Nicolo Barella, Allan, and Paolo Farago. Satisfied with the statistic, Arsenal’s fans should be satisfied.
Unai Emery seemed like recruiting two players in the 22-year-old player. Torreira could defend and attack. Last weekend, Torreira became the starter for the first time in the Premier League and Arsenal won 2-0 against Everton, scoring his first clean sheet this season.
In a relatively young age, Torreira can develop in Arsenal with great talent to return The Gunners’ glory moment. He is the midfielder that is more complete compared to Chelsea midfielder, N’Golo Kante.