Spanish newspaper Marca revealed that the match between Real Madrid Castilla and Alcorcon, which featured the debuts of Takefusa Kubo and Rodrygo, saw a 350% increase in viewership number.

Real Madrid TV has been streaming all of Castilla’s five preseason matches live and for free. The first three matches brought an average views of 45,000 and the number increased to 108,000 for the fourth against Lugo last week. In the latest Alcorcon match, that viewership figure jumped to 352,000.

Looking at the numbers, Marca wrote that it was “a great reflection of the attention on Kubo and Rodrygo,” and added, “The match between the first team and Red Bull Salzburg on the same day had 760,000 views. It’s a surprise that a Castilla training game drew nearly half that figure.”

It should be noted that the Salzburg friendly was not made available in Japan due to issues of broadcasting rights, whereas the Castilla game was streamed for free. Nevertheless, the numbers undoubtedly indicate that the Japanese fans’ attention is on Kubo.

For Japanese football news: CoolJapan Soccer

Source: Yahoo

Image: Real Madrid website