"I thought they were going to kick me out!" Federico Valverde feared punishment at Real Madrid

"I’ve injured the odd goalkeeper or two," recalls Valverde on the Terapia Picante podcast, though one prominent name caused him particular concern. "I injured Luca Zidane’s shoulder. I wanted the ground to swallow me up; I thought they’d kick me out – I’d injured Zidane’s son."

The 27-year-old’s shots are feared not only by opposing goalkeepers; yet Valverde, who has evolved from ‘El Pajarito’ (Little Bird) to ‘El Halcón’ (The Falcon) not just in terms of finishing technique, says, “I have very thin legs; I don’t know where I get so much power in my legs from.”"

During his six years with Real Madrid’s first team, Valverde has enjoyed an impressive career, but the move from Uruguay’s Peñarol to Spain was not an easy one for the midfielder; after all, even Castilla – for whom he played for a year before being loaned out to Deportivo La Coruña for a season – was a whole different world.

“It was incredibly embarrassing; it completely knocked the wind out of me. I thought: ‘I don’t know what I’m doing here’,” recalls Valverde of his early days in the Royal Club’s youth team. “When I arrived at the car park, I noticed that my Castilla teammates had really fancy cars, and I could barely afford a decent one, even though I was already playing in the top flight for Penarol.”

He started to wonder: "What on earth have I got myself into? I went into the changing room and saw really expensive designer clothes there," Valverde continued. "I didn’t want to get undressed at all, or I’d get undressed really quickly so that no one would see me. It was a rude awakening."

Valverde is now regarded as the legitimate successor to club legend Toni Kroos, and not just because he has taken over his number 8 shirt. Valverde has long been indispensable to manager Álvaro Arbeloa; he virtually single-handedly propelled the Royals into the next round with a hat-trick in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 in a 3-0 win over Manchester City, and has also found the net once in each of the last three league matches. His contract in Madrid runs until 2029.