Analysis: Marcos Llorente is crucial to Spain’s World Cup ambitions
Analysis: Marcos Llorente is crucial to Spain’s World Cup ambitions After missing out on the 2024 European Championship, Atletico Madrid defender Marcos Llorente is gearing up to represent Spain at the 2026 World Cup. The 31-year-old should be on the plane to North America with the rest of Luis de la Fuente’s squad as La Roja look to claim their second World Cup title. While he only made three appearances in the qualifiers, Llorente looks set to be a key member of the squad.
Read on as we assess why he is crucial to Spain’s World Cup ambitions . Llorente’s rise at Atletico Madrid After coming through the youth academy at Real Madrid, Llorente was shipped off to Atletico back in 2019. His versatility has proved to be invaluable to manager Diego Simeone.
Better known as a right-back, one of his best campaigns at Atletico was in midfield, and his goalscoring from deep was instrumental to the club’s sensational La Liga triumph in 2020/21. He was an ever-present figure for Simeone’s side, featuring in all but one of Atletico’s La Liga fixtures throughout the season. Llorente started in 33 of his 37 games in the Spanish top flight, bagging 12 goals and 11 assists.
Only Luis Suarez scored more goals for Atletico in that campaign than Llorente (21). The former Barcelona and Liverpool striker also pipped Llorente for most goal contributions, but the margins were tight (Suarez – 24, Llorente – 23). A difficult second season where he was linked to a move to Man Utd saw Simeone gradually move him to right back and Llorente took to his new role like a duck to water.
His explosive pace and power, backed by his consistency, have helped him to remain a crucial part of Simeone’s tactical set-up. He is also an integral part of Spain’s squad. Llorente replaced Sergio Canales to make his national team debut in a 1-1 friendly draw against the Netherlands in November 2020 and has now won 23 caps for his country.
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