Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
——
NEON LIGHTS AND ALCOHOL. It wasn't the typical scene for a young football player. Watching different bodies dancing, chatting, and drinking the night away didn't really fit into a player's schedule when they had training bright and early the following morning. Nonetheless, there was one particular Spanish player that found the time for it.
If he was being honest with himself, Brahim Díaz had no clue as to what he was doing at club Diosa in the first place. Somehow, his friends had convinced him to check out the club located in downtown Madrid because they believed he needed a stress free night without his constant worrying. While their intentions came from a good place, their execution was subpar at best.
Brahim still found himself agonizing over the future, his career, and wether or not he had made the best decisions in his life.
At just the age of twenty, the Spaniard was playing for one of the top teams in the world, and more importantly the club of his dreams, Real Madrid. Well, he didn't even know if he could say that he was playing for the football club considering his lack of minutes actually playing on the field.
It made no sense to him, as the previous season he seemed like one of the few players that was still putting in an effort by the end of their 2018 to 2019 campaign. He had initially joined the club mid-season, during the January transfer market, from Manchester City. Brahim clearly remembered his debut, a day that he categorized as when of the best of days of his life, and he still had the jersey he was wearing during that match hanging in his room.
When Zinedine Zidane came back to the club, Brahim made sure to always try his hardest during every training session and game in order to impress the French manager. It was under Zidane's management that he was able to score his first goal for the club. He recalled how he had scored within the first five minutes of the game and how he had felt like the happiest person alive. His happiness that day was only temporary though, as his teammates decided to concede three goals and he was subbed off fuming.
Despite all of that, he thought that he had done a good job of making a good impression on Zidane, that was until tragedy struck for the twenty year old.
Due to injury, Brahim could no longer participate in the Under-21 European Championship for Spain. It had hit him hard at the time, but he tried to keep his head up and focus on preseason. Unfortunately, that was taken away from him as well because he had become injured for a second time and could not play in any of the friendlies.
Again, he tried to stay positive and work hard on his recovery. His hard work paid off, as he was able to get back in shape at a considerably short amount of time; however, it did not mean that he was able to play on the field. Brahim was left out of the squad list numerous times, despite being fully fit, and even when he was on it, he usually came on us a substitute and played for about eight minutes.
