As of Wednesday, Álvaro Odriozola is part of the Bayern family. The Spaniard, who was a runner-up at the 2017 European Under-21 Championship, has been given the No. 2 shirt and will assist the reigning double winners in their bid to defend their league title until the summer. fcbayern.com gives a quick introduction to the Reds' new arrival:
Servus, Álvaro Odriozola!
Odriozola was born on 14 December 1995 in the coastal city of San Sebastián in northern Spain. At the age of 10, the right-back joined the academy at local club Real Sociedad, where he progressed through all the youth ranks before impressing in the reserves. That earned him his first-team debut in the Primera Divisíon in early 2017, shortly after his 21st birthday, in a 2-0 away win at Málaga CF.
The Spaniard has joined on loan from Real Madrid for the rest of the season - full story below 👇🏻:
From San Sebastían to Madrid
He developed into a key player for the Basque side and caught the eye of Spain's record champions Real Madrid. The 24-year-old joined 'Los Blancos' in summer 2018 and has won both the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup and the 2019 Spanish Super Cup since his move. Odriozola has made a total of 68 appearances for Real in La Liga, while at European level he's played four times in the Champions League along with six Europa League games for Sociedad.
Álvaro Odriozola (bottom left) made his debut for Spain on 6 October 2017 in a 3-0 win over Albania in World Cup qualifying - his new club teammate Thiago (top row second from right) played in the same game.
Four Spain caps
Odriozola made his senior debut for the Spanish national team on 6 October 2017. Incidentally, he set up Bayern teammate Thiago to score in the 3-0 win over Albania. In total, he's been capped four times by his country, scoring one goal. Before that, Odriozola was part of the under-21 side that finished runners-up at the 2017 European Championship, although he didn't feature in the 1-0 loss to Germany in the final, in which Serge Gnabry was on the opposing side.
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