Cuti Romero wins over the pundits with charisma and leadership

The panel agrees that Cuti Romero has transformed the Atlético defence: he imposes himself, takes charge and attacks the box. The comparison with Godín splits the table, and Alberto Carballo warns that one day the bubble will burst.

Rubén Uría points to a striking statistic on Cuti Romero, who has reportedly won 91 of nearly a hundred duels, and recalls that Marcos Durán was already warning in the summer that a top-class centre-back would raise the level of the defence considerably. For Uría, he has been working wonders.

Alejandro Gutiérrez describes him as a centre-back who actually defends like a centre-back, something that sounds trivial but had been sorely missed. Uría adds that he imposes himself, the figure the team had been lacking: Pubill and Hancko are fine centre-backs, but not specialist penalty-box defenders. Alejandro goes further, calling him a leader and a field marshal, someone who barks an order and everyone jumps. He believes Romero will become captain and recalls how, in the last match, he went forward on his own initiative and scored the winner by attacking the back post. He reminds him of Godín, not in terms of playing profile but in terms of authority.

Uría qualifies that he sees him as a Godín in the box and in the air, but technically better. Alberto Carballo counters that Godín was probably better in the air and hails him as one of the best centre-backs he has ever seen. As for Cuti, he says patience will be needed, because at times he takes risks and is overly physical, and at some point the bubble will burst. Even so, he acknowledges that since arriving at the Metropolitano, Romero has become the team's best pure defender.