Diego Llorente will take on Real Madrid at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu for the first time this Sunday after not being able to do so during his previous loan spells at Rayo Vallecano and Malaga due to clauses in his contracts preventing him from playing against his parent club.
He also missed out last season after joining Real Sociedad on a permanent deal, as he was on the bench for the fixture in the Spanish capital. Since leaving Los Blancos for the Basque club in the summer of 2017 to the tune of six million euros, Luis Enrique has brought him into the Spain set-up and the player returns as an important member of the national team’s squad. He had already made his La Roja debut in 2016, but has now been included in a couple of Luis Enrique’s first squad lists. Llorente is expected to be a part of new Real Sociedad coach Imanol Alguacil’s starting line-up on Sunday.The Spaniard was a key player for the club during Asier Garitano’s tenure and it looks as if he will continue to be so under the new coach.
Former Real Madrid player Diego Llorente: “Few teams have a global impact like Real Madrid. Zidane himself had to stop because he demands a 100% mental and physical level from the players and as soon as there is a bad result, even a draw, it is not worth it.” pic.twitter.com/gpaBWgwF6a
— RMadridHome (@RMadridHome_) November 15, 2018
The fully-fledged Spanish International is an example of someone who has fulfilled his enormous potential, albeit away from the team where he learned his trade. He was benched against his former team last season, but will be champing at the bit to get a start against them this time around. In the process, he will be doing everything in his power to end Real Sociedad’s poor run of form, which has seen them lose their last four LaLiga Santander matches.