Who are you really, Joško Gvardiol?

By Alessandro Schiavone in Bochum

VFL Bochum 1-0 RB Leipzig

Football observers and interested clubs watching the Bundesliga fixture between VFL Bochum and RB Leipzig, culminated in a 1-0 defeat for the visitors on Saturday, must have been at a loss.

Who exactly is Josko Gvardiol? Is he the agile,unassailable and powerful beast from the first 45 minutes who has emerged as a primary target for Europe’s elite clubs following an outstanding World Cup in or the erratic, error-strewn version of the second period?

If he’s the player who didn’t put a foot wrong in the opening exchanges there’s absolutely no chance Leipzig and the Bundesliga will see him next season, with a bidding war between Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City and Real Madrid on the cards to secure his signature.

Yet his nightmare performance at Etihad Stadium resulting in a 7-0 drubbing by Manchester City already raised more than one doubt. Added to that, his below-par exchanges on his return from the dressing room at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion may give Leipzig supporters renewed hope that top sides will decide to pursue other targets.

When the Croat is at his best, he is as tough a customer as they come for any striker in the world. Just ask Romelu Lukaku, Jonathan David and Richarlison, his direct rivals in Qatar, with the trio firing a blank against Croatia because of him.

Capital Football attended the Bundesliga game between relegation-threatened Bochum and Leipzig and assessed Gvardiol’s rollercoaster performance.

First-half

Such was Gvardiol’s dominance and impact on Leipzig that there was a general feeling he could do well and keep Blasewich’s goal unbreached by playing on his own in defence. He looked calm, assured and masterfully improvised and blocked everything that came his way. Long balls, second balls, aerial balls…he always got there first. And for someone so powerful and physical, the 21-year-old Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid target also has the brain and technique to pick the right pass under pressure. But it's his defending that alerted the world's best sides more than anything. Such as when he anticipated a through ball into space which Takuma Asano was ready to latch on to with no one around. And he repeated the feat when he blocked the Japanese’s venomous shot minutes later. He looked like someone who had outgrown the Bundesliga and earned Capital Football’s top marks for his impressive showing. Yet if in the first-half his display fell under the ‘world-class category’ things didn’t go so well for him after the restart…

Second-half

His anticipation skills were again on show when he successfully intercepted a ball destined for Antwi-Adjei. That was perhaps the last time he didn't look rattled. And only a minute or so later, he was a fraction too late when Masovic headed home the rebound from range to give Bochum the lead and the win. He should have been closer to his Serbian counterpart and closed him down or at least made life a bit more difficult for him. Instead, he was free to do as he wished. It’s true that he wasn’t helped by Willi Orban’s struggles of his own but someone with Gvardiol's leadership and tenacity should have steadied the ship and helped get Leipzig out of jail in those critical moments. Instead he crumbled when his teammates needed him the most. Thus, his horror show continued when Asano was unmarked and free to get his shot away after a cutback. His poor finishing saved Gvardiol’s blushes this time as Japan’s star of the last World Cup fired over from a good position. Moments later he was beaten for pace by the same player and almost horribly acrobatically deflected a high cross into his own net from the left.

AT RB Leipzig, and in the Bundesliga in general, defenders normally get away with mistakes like that as not many centre-forwards or wingers have the killer instinct you’d normally associate with Harry Kane, Erling Haaland or Karim Benzema. But the demands at big Premier League clubs or Real Madrid are sky-high and he simply can’t afford to turn up like he did at at the Castroper Straße at 4.30 pm on Sunday. That pointed to an inconsistency within the same game and lack of character as soon as the going gets a bit tougher. The sooner he cuts out those mistakes, the quicker he will get his dream move.

VFL Bochum 1848

1 Riemann- 3 Soares- 4 Masovic- 6 Osterhage- 7 Stoeger- 8 Losilla- 11 Asano- 16 Stafylidis- 20 Ordets- 22 Antwi-Adjei- 33 Hofmann

RB Leipzig

21 Blaswich- 2 Simakan- 4 Orban- 9 Poulsen- 11 Werner- 17 Szoboszlai- 19 Andre Silva-23 Halstenberg- 27 Laimer- 32 Gvardiol- 44 Kampl