Argentina's midfielder made 0 mistakes in passing!

Like Di Maria and Messi, Lo Celso, who was born in Rosario and played as an assist king in the Argentine national team, failed to win the World Cup with the team due to injury.

On the stage of the Champions League and the Premier League, Lo Celso's ability to control the ball at his feet shocked many famous coaches. In the next Copa America, he will be Messi's good helper, and he will also attack his second Copa America title.

01. Debut in Rosario: The first stop in Europe was Paris

a. Born in the cradle city of football: Rosario

Lo Celso was born on April 9, 1996 in Rosario, Argentina, the cradle of football superstars, as well as Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria.

Like Di Maria, Lo Celso, who debuted at Rosario Central Club and initially played as a winger, was once regarded as the successor of Angels. He made his Argentine league debut at the age of 18 and played 23 league games at the age of 19, scoring two goals and providing six assists.

Although the stats are not impressive, Lo Celso's possession of the ball at his feet and his clever passing have caught the attention of many people. A quote from Paris Saint-Germain that took him to Europe.

Lo Celso, who is only 20 years old, was first loaned back to Rosario Central and made his debut in Paris six months later.

Unai Emery, who was the coach of Paris at the time, admired the young man very much, and even entrusted him with important responsibilities in the main event of facing Real Madrid in the knockout round of the Champions League.

Unfortunately, with Unai Emery's resignation, Lo Celso, who handed over a record of 6 goals and 7 assists in the 2017-18 season, was inevitably marginalized and could only choose to loan La Liga team Betis.

b. Shine in La Liga: Barcelona became his vote

In the 2018-19 season, Lo Celso played on two fronts with Betis. Not only has a good performance in the Europa League, but also shines in La Liga.

In the game against Barcelona at the Camp Nou, the partnership of Lo Celso and Willian Carvalho even put the red and blue behind in the matter of passing.

Lo Celso not only scored one goal, but also provided four crucial passes and two successful dribbles to his team-mates.

Under Setien, who is an attacking and possession-minded man, Lo Celso has made 46 appearances for Real Betis in all competitions this season, contributing 16 goals and six assists.

Betis did not hesitate to buy him out for €22 million in the middle of the season, and then sold Lo Celso to Premier League powerhouse Tottenham Hotspur for €60 million at the end of the season, with Paris receiving a 20% share of the transfer.

02. Is it a mistake to go to the Premier League?

a. Can't find the right position in the Premier League

Lo Celso was expected to go to the next level, but it was clear that the pace of the Premier League was not the right fit for his style of play.

The winger's turned-midfielder has a style of play that is more like a central midfielder or a wide midfielder who can pull the wings, and he has a strong ability to control the ball, but the pace is not as fast.

Tottenham, in particular, are mainly defensive counter-attacks, and Lo Celso is not so easy to fit into the tactical board of Pochettino and Mourinho.

In his first two-and-a-half-season at Tottenham, Lo Celso's Premier League start-ups declined year by year, from 15 to 11 and then to two starts and seven substitutes in the first half of the 2021-22 season.

So in the winter window, he chose to return to La Liga, return to his mentor Unai Emery, and go on loan to Villarreal.

b. Back to Unai Emery: Shocking the world in the Champions League

In the familiar La Liga, it is not only Emery here, but also the rhythm of possession suitable for Lo Celso. In the knockout round of the Champions League, Villarreal first won Juventus, and then met Bayern Munich, the favorite at the time, in the round of eight.

As a result, Lo Celso was named Man of the Match for five crucial passes that led to the goal in the first leg at home, winning eight one-on-one duels, as well as four tackles, two interceptions, one blocked shot and one clearance.

Lo Celso's value is that he has a strong ability to control the ball when he moves forward between attack and defence. Even when pressed to defend the ball and find a good pass.

He can even complete a second pass through continuous relays. This time, Villarreal striker Moreno was able to shoot from inside the box after Lo Celso's successive runs with two feet.

The only goal of the game, Lo Celso deserved the first goal. This time he split the ball on the flanks and then quickly stepped forward into the ribs of the box.

The subsequent cross found Parejo.

The latter's shot, which was relayed by Danjuma and went into the bottom of Bayern's net, also gave Villarreal a crucial victory.

The Villarreal team played the ball in central midfield from central defender Pau Torres to midfielder Parejo to Lo Celso, ensuring consistency in forward passing and ball control, and avoiding giving Bayern a chance to get up to speed.

At the same time, the team also has speed points such as Estupinian, Danjuma and Chukwueze, and can use counterattacks to hurt strong opponents.

When it came to the away game, it was still Lo Celso who could steadily hold the ball under pressure, allowing Villarreal to continue to negotiate with Bayern, and finally waited for the counterattack goal to advance.

03. Beat Manchester City with a 100% pass success rate & send assists to break Brazil's unbeaten golden body

a. Finally met the attacking Premier League coach

Because of Maddison's injury, Lo Celso, who almost joined Barcelona in the summer window, regained the opportunity to play at Tottenham.

In the Premier League spotlight match with Manchester City, Lo Celso not only scored a beautiful goal, but also had a 100% pass success rate, and only conceded 3 times when he touched the ball 52 times.

It was an incredible achievement against City's high-pressure pressing tactics and a testament to Lo Celso's skill and possession talent.

In the game, Emerson was the player in charge of defending Haaland alone, and this time he chased back and tackle the ball to complete the destruction.

Lo Celso, who then held the ball, shook it lightly past the opponent and then passed it to his teammates on the flank, showing his ability to control the ball.

This time, Lo Celso went to the side to feign to respond, and then took the initiative to leak the ball, giving Emerson behind him, bringing a follow-up exchange with Kulusevski, allowing Tottenham to play a sharp counterattack.

It can be seen that after Lo Celso and Kulusevski switched places, Tottenham made a crisp pass at the back.

Lo Celso didn't pause after winning the ball, and went directly to Son Xingmin on the front line, and an excellent counterattack opportunity came out.

Lo Celso is not the type to be a fast individual and he likes to keep the ball and protect it at times, but it is easy to drag his feet in the Premier League.

However, this Tottenham team, under Posteglou, has a very high level of overall movement. Lo Celso played a very important role in this wave of counterattacks.

Moving from off the ball to finding Son Heung-min in the key pass almost made the team hit a fatal blow. Unfortunately, Son Heung-min passed to Hill again, who was disrupted when he dribbled forward.

It was the same this time, as Lo Celso had a turnaround to protect the ball after he picked up the ball near the centre circle. This kind of operation will seem a bit "procrastinating".

But in this Tottenham team, the overall rhythm of movement is very good, so after Lo Celso "slowed down", he was able to send a wonderful pass from the three-man encirclement in time, so that the team's attack suddenly opened up and accelerated in an instant.

b. After breaking Brazil's defense in the World Qualifiers: Returning to the Premier League to score consecutive goals

Lo Celso had previously played two and a half seasons in the Premier League, scoring just one goal. However, this time under Posteglou, he scored two wonderful long-range goals in a row (two of Lo Celso's three goals in the Premier League came against Manchester City, which can be called the nemesis of the blue moon).

This is not entirely accidental, and although his style of play is different from that of Maddison, Lo Celso has found a better tactical position under the attacking and overall movement of the boss.

In particular, Lo Celso's defensive contribution is not bad, his tackling and defensive kicking frequency is good (4 tackles against Villa), and once he has the ball, he can also push forward and launch counterattacks on his own, giving teammates off the ball and set-ups.

Facing his team-mate Martinez for the national team, Lo Celso's long-range shot hit the Villa defender with some lines, leaving the goalkeeper helpless.

In the battle with Manchester City, Lo Celso not only had a 100% pass success rate and only lost the ball 3 times in the whole game, but also received the ball from Son Xingmin when the team was forced to a rare successful high position, and hit a long-range shot in front of the penalty area comparable to Messi.

The quality of the shot was so high that Brazil international Ederson was amazed.

If it weren't for injury, Lo Celso would have been the absolute mainstay of Argentina's midfield and the team's assist leader (tied with Messi) under Scaloni before the World Cup.

After returning from injury, Lo Celso returned to the starting line-up, not only contributing the only goal of the game in the World Qualifiers against Brazil, but also winning seven of his eight one-on-one duels and committing five fouls.

Lo Celso's beautiful corner kick landed on Otamendi with a header, which was not only the first away victory over arch-rivals Brazil in the history of the Argentine team, but also the first home defeat in the world preliminary round in the history of the Samba Army.

I believe that in the next Copa America, Lo Celso will still be a good helper for Messi and become the guarantee of the technical content of the midfield.

Conclusion:

At the age of 27, Lo Celso is in his prime with both his experience and physical condition. Tottenham's injury crisis has given the bench more opportunities and he has the quality to prove himself.

After all, the Copa America is just around the corner, and Lo Celso can play more games, which is also good news for Argentina. Xavi, who just likes him, wants to take Lo Celso with him in the winter window, and the hopes are getting a little slim.