In recent months, the football community’s attention has been drawn to Thiago Pitarch, a young midfielder from the Madrid club. His name is increasingly appearing on the first team roster, yet he is not getting any playing time in these matches. This situation has led to a decrease in his involvement with the reserve team and the youth squad.
The Real Madrid coaching staff, impressed by his performances for Castilla at the start of the season, began regularly inviting Pitarch to train with the first team. Whenever a midfield substitution was needed, he was the one chosen. This happened both when Camavinga was absent and when Ceballos was injured.
As a result, over a short period, Pitarch found himself more often included in the first team squad than playing for the reserves. However, despite his constant presence on the bench, he never came onto the field. This limited his participation not only in Castilla matches but also for the youth team, including the UEFA Youth League games.
Interestingly, over two months of the season, Pitarch has spent more time on the pitch with the Spanish youth national team than with his club. The under-20 national team coach gave him the opportunity to play six matches, including two friendlies against France and four games at the under-20 World Cup.
In total, he played 423 minutes for the national team, while for the Madrid club he logged only 201 minutes, all of which came in three matches for Castilla out of a possible nine. Thus, his contribution to the national team was twice as significant as his club performance.
After returning from the World Cup, the Castilla coach planned to have Pitarch back in the lineup, but another injury to Ceballos changed those plans again. Now the youth team is awaiting the coaching staff’s decision to determine whether the midfielder will be able to take part in the upcoming Youth League matches.
At the start of preseason training, Pitarch emerged as one of the standouts, playing every minute of the first two friendlies against Marbella and Racing de Ferrol. However, his playing time sharply decreased after that.
The situation could change as early as next week. Due to an injury to one of Castilla’s players, the coaching staff is considering bringing Pitarch back into the lineup to strengthen the midfield. With Ceballos’s recovery, the midfielder is expected to get more opportunities to prove himself in the reserve team’s upcoming matches.
