Javier Aguirre is quite the character, and he reminded everyone of that yesterday when he explained why he had dropped his team’s biggest name for the vital clash against Atletico Madrid.
Takefusa Kubo is a legitimate wonderkid, and perhaps Mallorca’s most creative player, but he was benched and not used until the 54th minute of yesterday’s game.
Aguirre explained exactly why:
“He trained as a starter all week and I didn’t like it at all. So I took him out, and told him why he wouldn’t start. He deserved to start, if it wasn’t for those training sessions where he did badly.”
He hasn’t frozen him out entirely, and was happy to use him as a sub – by which point his team were defending for their lives and Kubo had little chance to use his creative and technical gifts in any case.
In any case, Aguirre’s decision paid off. His team battled to a hard fought win over Atletico to end their bad run and to give them fresh hope in the relegation battle once again.
These are the kind of decisions Aguirre is known for, and this one might just have sparked a run towards safety.
