Joško Gvardiol - solid up front and at the back
The defender has impressed with some impressive performances during his first season in Leipzig | Also a regular with the Croatia national team | Joško’s main strengths are his tackling, his passing and his pace
Joško Gvardiol’s first season at RB Leipzig could hardly have gone any better. The club qualified for the UEFA Champions League, made the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League and are in the final of the DFB-Pokal. The Croatian has played his part with his physicality, tackling and mentality from the first game. He’s helped to keep the Leipzig defence stable all season.
In one of his first interviews after joining RB Leipzig in July 2021, Joško Gvardiol gave the tongue-in-cheek response that he prefers to play in attack. After having played up front during his youth, he has since abandoned that position in favour of taking up a spot in defence.
And yet, in some way the term “attacker” fits quite well to the 20-year-old. After all, he loves to push forward and go on the attack, something he does with great success as well.
Joško Gvardiol profiled
A signing for the future
We announced the signing of Joško Gvardiol on 28th September 2020 for the following season. RB Leipzig secured the future of the highly talented defender from Dinamo Zagreb.
Joško explained that one of the main reasons he decided to join RB was because “the club gives chances to young players.” He’s been reunited with his former teammate from Zagreb, Dani Olmo, with whom he “spoke to a lot” before making the move to Germany.
Joško and the boys before the semi-final against Rangers
No way through
When he signed for RB, the defender was already playing for Croatia U21s, and by the time he arrived in Saxony he had made it to the senior side. After only featuring for 45 minutes in a friendly prior to EURO 2020, Joško started in all four of Croatia’s matches at the tournament last summer.
He quickly became a regular in the national team.
Our new away kit!
The same would be true at Leipzig. After the departures of Dayot Upamecano (FC Bayern München) and Ibrahima Konaté (Liverpool) last summer, the club were in need to fill the gap left by these two key defensive players – not an easy task.
Joško eagerly took on this challenge, and it didn’t take long for him to become a regular starter for RBL. “I spend a lot of time with my teammates, both on and off the pitch, and we talk a lot about the games. That really helps us to understand each other better,” Joško said. Now, it’s almost impossible to imagine our defence without him. “I was surprised, but also very proud of myself,” he said.
One of the first names on the teamsheet
The defender only missed two games in the first half of the season – the first round of the DFB-Pokal against SV Sandhausen and the opening Bundesliga matchday against Mainz. In the second half of the season, he’s played in all but four games, with one of those absences coming through a yellow card suspension.
Across all competitions, Joško has made 45 appearances out of a possible 52:
- 29 Bundesliga games
- 6 UEFA Champions League games
- 6 UEFA Europa League games
- 4 DFB-Pokal games
In the league, Gvardiol has recorded two goals and two assists as well as a pass accuracy of 83.8% and has won 57.8% of duels.
Gvardiol celebrating with Dani Olmo and André Silva
Winning over hearts
Strong in duels, accurate in passes and that’s not everything: Joško recorded a top speed of 34.57 km/h this season, ranking him the fastest centre back in the Bundesliga. He ranks fourth in the club’s statistics, behind Lukas Klostermann (35.97 km/h), Christopher Nkunku (35.54 km/h) und Konrad Laimer (34.64 km/h).
Joško’s approach has also seen him win over the hearts of RBL fans. “My brave playing style is just a part of who I am,” he says. “Especially when you’re playing against a really good player, you simply need to have that conviction in your game.”