RB Leipzig playmaker Dani Olmo has just over a month before he takes on Real Madrid in the Champions League, and said his side would be true to their identity in that match. However as a keen oberver of La Liga himself, Olmo has made an interesting observation about the Spanish league.
Speaking to Marca in an interview, Olmo was asked if the slower pace of the game in La Liga bored him compared to that of the Bundesliga, which tends to be more based on counter-attacks.
“They are different leagues. Spain is more tactical, more of a positional game, while in Germany they attack spaces more. In LaLiga, for example, except for Real Madrid and Atletico, which play you in both ways (positional and counter-attacking), there is not much in terms of counter-attacks. In Germany, there is. You have to pay close attention to the transitions, regardless of the team.”
He was asked whether he was more of a fan of the positional Real Madrid or counter-attacking Real Madrid, which drew a laugh from him.
“You have to keep an eye on both of them! In static, they have top world players, like Kroos or Modric. Luka is one of my favourites. And up top, they have fast players, who kill you in space, like ‘Vini’, Rodrygo… We have to be careful when we have the ball and when we don’t… and be attentive for the 90 minutes.”
Olmo has always been something of an outlier in terms of his choices in the game, leaving La Masia at the age of 15 to join Dinamo Zagreb. Despite growing up in the era of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, his favourite forward was Diego Forlan.
“When I was little I played as a pure striker and I also had long blonde hair, a mane. And I liked to shoot with both feet, right and left, like Diego. That’s why I liked him so much.”
Olmo is undoubtedly one of Leipzig’s most dangerous players for Real Madrid to take care of. As he mentioned earlier in the interview, Los Blancos will be short in defence for that match, and Leipzig did beat Real Madrid in the group stages of the Champions League last season. Olmo would also go on to highlight Andres Iniesta and Luka Modric as two more of his reference points.
