By Melody Gross 
Grimaldo has always been an influential player in Benfica’s attacking maneuver. This trend continued with Rui Vitória, Bruno Lage, Jorge Jesus and Nelson Verissimo and with Roger Schmidt at the helm. For a long time, the German coach has highlighted the Spanish left-back as an essential part of the squad, and the first round of the tournament (and beyond…) confirms that, given the level of impact the 27-year-old has exerted for Valencia in 16 appearances. Participated in it – not only did he add minutes at the reception at Rio Ave, in the ninth round (unused substitute), which took place between the two matches with Paris Saint-Germain in the group stage of the Champions League. league.
After five assists – Arouca (Day 1), Famalicão (Day 6), Estoril (Day 12), Sporting (Day 17) and Santa Clara (Day 17) – and a goal – Desp. Chaves (Day 11) – Spread over several rounds of the 2022/2023 league, it concludes that Grimaldo has never been so impressive in the first round of our league (having played, at least, more than half of the rounds).
He contributed goals/assists in 37.5% of the matches in which he was used.
In terms of production, Grimaldo maintained the consistency of previous seasons, almost always managing to score half a dozen decisive actions, between goals and assists, at the end of the first half of the tournament, but this time, in light of the German coach’s orders extended to more rounds, In this sixth case, to score the most influential record in Luz – in 2016/2017, in the first full season with an eagle on his chest, he achieved the dream start, leaving a mark (two goals and two assists) in four of the first eight rounds, but the injury practically sidelined him For the rest of the season, he returned only in the last rounds of the second round.
Actively involved in six of the Eagles’ 43 goals in their first 17 league matches, Grimaldo is thus responsible for 14 percent of the Reds’ total offensive production in this league. But it’s not just in the tournament that Grimaldo’s offensive antics carry weight.
Overall, the 81 goals Roger Schmidt’s side have already scored in 33 official matches have already been omitted from the calendar in all competitions, and Grimaldo maintains a similar impact as he has in the tournament, that is, with a total of four goals and seven assists added, he also has a responsibility of 14 percent. of the total number of goals ever scored.
But there’s more data to suggest that Grimaldo can even hit the best numbers ever with an eagle on his chest until the end of this season, which will likely be Luz’s last.
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