Who is the "street" footballer that Barca's players begged to stop running?

"At the end of the day, I'm a street player. I played there when I was little, around the neighborhood. Now I do everything the same way. I've always loved football and I play it because I enjoy it," the new superhero of Spanish football Bryan Zaragoza exuded modesty with each spoken sentence addressing the media after an extraordinary game played against the Blaugrana on Sunday night.

The 22-year-old amazed the whole football world in the ninth round of Primera against the current champion. The essence of the impressiveness of the 164 centimeters tall Zaragoza lies not so much in the mere statistical fact that he scored two goals against an elite team such as Barça, but in the masterful way in which he did it and that, without any fanfare, he burst completely unplanned into the forefront of the media around the world and the Pyrenees in just 29 minutes, which was enough for him to give his team a 2-0 lead.

He scored the first goal in the 17th second, which is the fastest goal conceded by Barça in the 21st century, and the fastest scored by Granada in history, at least when it comes to the domestic championship. What he did on the second occasion will be recounted for years. He broke the backs of Jules Kounde and Ter Stegen, and in the manner of a world grandmaster he defeated the German.

A frustrating night for Barca as they only draw against relegation candidate Granada

Journalists asked him to say what he remembered most from the match of his life. He didn't have many doubts.

"The Barcelona players congratulated me on a great game, but before that, in the middle of the match, they begged me to stop running," Zaragoza said excitedly.

In the end, Granada remained without a triumph, Barca again showed that they have 'nine lives' and in the last minutes drew a point for the final 2-2. Zaragoza was not lucky enough to reach unimagined heights, when he hit the post of Ter Stegen's goal in the 87th minute. The hat trick did elude him, but the subsequent call from Spain coach Luis De La Fuente did not.

At 00:34 local time, he was included in the Red Fury's roster for the matches against Scotland and Norway in the EURO 2024 qualifiers, replacing the injured Jeremy Pino. The whole of Spain was so amazed by what he did last night on the grass of Los Carmenes that even De La Fuente simply could not remain immune and not invite a young man who before this season had only been heard of by passionate Segunda connoisseurs. In this way, he became the first Granada player in the Spanish national team since 1974, and only the fourth in history.

Until September of last year, the guy born in Málaga did not play in any tier above the third, and only on November 18, 2022, he would see his first career goal in the second division. With a total of five goals in 34 games and the status of an occasional starter, he helped Granada win promotion to Primera. He arrived at Los Carmenes as an eighteen-year-old, but spent several years on loan until Paco Lopes took over as coach of the red and whites.

Since then, Zaragoza's career has taken an upward trajectory, and in the current La Liga season, he has shaken the net of his rivals five times in nine games. Once again, the fact that he has never played at the highest level before should be apostrophized, and this information and how it makes his performance so far a true feat.

By his own admission, Zaragoza's idol was none other than Lionel Messi, which is somehow logical considering that it is not difficult to find a correlation between the two, primarily in the constitution. The diminutive footballer did not go through the youth system of any of the clubs, but in his teenage years he played for local teams from his region in what could be colloquially called "village leagues". He performed for teams such as a certain Tiro Pichon and Conejito La Luz. During that period, Sevilla, Betis and Valladolid refused to include him in their academies, not seeing him as any potential for the future.

Now he is not yet fully aware of what kind of star he has become, but he has seen some signs of increased popularity.

"I barely managed to take my mobile phone after the game, open Instagram and see that I have about five thousand new followers. It's unreal!", "The Bullet", as the Spanish press called him in reports from the match against Barcelona, does not hide his excitement.

At least from the first words, it seems that gaining fame overnight will not cloud his mind.

"I have both feet on the ground and I am one hundred percent committed to Granada. We will see what the future will bring, I am not burdened with it".

Zaragoza is incredible with the ball, and this is confirmed by the data that the player with the highest number of dribbling attempts in the 'top five' leagues, far ahead of the second-placed Leroy Sane. Few doubt that De La Fuente will give a chance to the relatively anonymous youngster on Thursday, when Spain welcomes Scotland to the La Cartuja stadium in Seville, where they will try to get revenge for the March defeat in Glasgow (2-0).

If he uses that opportunity, it is clear that he will bring excitement to La Furia Roja supporters, and launch his career into a completely new dimension. His life is undoubtedly already significantly different.