Marcos Luna has secured his place in the starting lineup of UD Almería. In his first season with the red-and-white club, the left-back from Zaragoza has demonstrated perseverance and hard work throughout the year. Although he began the campaign as a starter in the early matches, he was left out of the starting eleven from early September until late January. During that period, Daijiro Chirino took over the position, but the Aragonese defender never stopped pushing in training.
Eventually, Luna has become one of the most finely tuned pieces in a team fighting for promotion to La Liga, racking up twelve starts in the last fifteen league games. “Honestly, I’ve been able to play much more in the second half of the season. That’s what everyone wants. I’ve felt very comfortable in several matches, like against Córdoba, Granada, or Mirandés. My intention is to keep growing and take advantage of these very important opportunities,” the player said in comments to the club’s official media.
In fact, the last match against Mirandés was one of his best performances in the Almería shirt. The full-back provided the assist for the first goal with a great through ball to Leo Baptistao just seconds after the start. Later, Marcos Luna burst into the box and served a ball that Alex Muñoz headed at the far post, but the ball ended up being deflected in by an opponent.
“It was a huge victory, especially considering what was at stake. It was the last match of the matchday, and we knew that if we won, we would still depend on ourselves. They were a very tough opponent who made things difficult, but we are a team that never loses its composure,” he stressed on UDA Radio. Luna stood out in the last matchday with an 84% pass accuracy (37 out of 44) and 12 out of 16 passes completed in the final third (75%). He also won eleven individual duels and stood out as the player who won the most ground duels (7).
On a season-wide scale, the Almería defender is the second full-back in the second division with the most through passes per game (0.34) and ranks fifth in completed progressive passes (7.36) and accurate passes to the final third (4.67). He also stands out as the driving force from the right side, being the sixth player in the team with the most passes (44.63) and seventh in progressive passes (9.58) and completed forward passes (13.56).
His physical side is also among the most notable in Spanish football. Against Granada, he recorded the fastest sprint of the match, reaching 34.7 km/h. That mark surpasses Luis Javier Suárez’s record from last season (33.67 km/h), which was one of the fastest sprints of the previous campaign, and approaches figures such as Mbappé’s 35.24 km/h and Víctor Muñoz’s 35.45 km/h.
“We have four matchdays left. Our minds are set on Burgos. Anything can happen at El Plantío. Everything depends on winning there, and it’s in our hands to do so […] We go knowing that winning that match would give us a huge boost, and then we’d have two home games left. That said, it won’t be easy. It’s going to be a battle,” the player reflected on the upcoming league fixture.
