BACKGROUND
Mario Gila was born in Barcelona a little less than 26 years ago. His youth football career started off at Santa Perpètua, spending 4 years there before moving on to multiple clubs, joining a new one every season, until ironically finding himself at Real Madrid at 18 years old and settling down there. He played mainly for the B team in the Spanish third tier alongside the likes of Jacobo Ramon, Nico Paz, and Alvaro Rodriguez, getting only 23 minutes played with the Real Madrid first team. Lazio swooped in for him in 2022 with a €6.00m fee, giving Mario Gila his first taste of first division senior football in Serie A.
Gila was not an immediate starter for Lazio, getting only 83 minutes in Serie A, while building up experience in Europa League and Conference League games. The next season, in 2023/24, he eventually earned himself a regular starting position for Lazio. Playing his first full senior season at 23 means Gila doesn’t have the traditional career path of a soon-to-be 26-year-old. So far, he has played slightly less than 10,000 minutes for Lazio across all comps in the first tier of football, meaning there is far less wear-and-tear in his body, boding well for his future health, athleticism, and relationship with injuries at his brand-new club, AC Milan.
IMPROVEMENT & SKILL PROGRESSION
Comparing who Mario Gila is now to his starting point, which was only 4 seasons ago, the level of development and improvement he has gone through is very impressive.
On the left, his active defending data from the 2025/26 Serie A season. On the right, his data from his first full season as a player in 2023/24, just 2 seasons prior.
Defensive data in particular can be tricky to use when judging individual players due to the high influence that team context & systems can have. For example, Sarri’s Lazio this past season deployed a more conservative defense compared to last season with Baroni, which can result in less active defensive actions being made from the center-backs overall. For that reason, there can even be cases where even William Saliba’s active defending data can look less impressive than his actual defensive impact on the pitch.
Dueling win-rate
On the other hand, success rate data isn’t as much influenced by the system but rather is an indication of the defensive/dueling ability of players. Intersections of dueling volume and success rate regularly bring up great defenders across different styles of defending.
Ground Duel% especially can indicate how physically strong players are, how they deal with contact, their timing of actions, and how well they can decelerate. When it comes to defensive actions, the quality matters much more than the quantity, since if one is running around aimlessly challenging, it can not only lead to conceding an increased number of fouls, but also space in behind left undefended.
Gila started as a 10th percentile defensive ground dueler and a 1st percentile defensive aerial dueler in terms of success rate. This past season, he improved to an impressive 83rd percentile and 78th percentile in both areas while sustaining a very similar volume of duels won. Even though he contested a lower number of times, he came ahead a lot more often, which brings the same positive impact of winning duels with significantly less negative impact from losing them.
This rate of improvement and his fairly young football-age suggest that Gila could still have room to develop further, which is an exciting proposition considering how he was already one of the best center-backs in Serie A last season.
So what makes Mario Gila special?
PASSING
Beyond his defensive attributes, Gila brings security and ball-playing to a team’s backline in possession. Gila’s ball progression comes at a high volume, but more importantly, he is very accurate with his passes, which limits turnovers in dangerous areas.
In the 2025/26 season, among U25 center-backs in the Top 5 Leagues, Gila was ranked 3rd in Forward Pass%, right behind Pau Cubarsi and Illia Zabarnyi, 12th in Progressive Pass% (2nd in Serie A, right behind Jacobo Ramón), and 1st among everyone in Long Pass%, the only player to have over 60% of his long passes connect.
Maintaining this accuracy over such a high volume of passes is incredibly impressive and speaks to Gila’s ability. In the 2025/26 season, for center-backs who played over 800 minutes in the Top 5 Leagues + Portugal, Mario Gila’s name shows up in the intersection of high volume (over 4.85 Accurate Long Balls p90) and accuracy (over 55% Long Ball Accuracy). Additional names alongside him are well-known great passing center-backs, notably Goncalo Inacio, who was an important piece of the Amorim-coached team at Sporting.
CARRYING
Another on-ball skill Gila is extremely proficient in is ball-carrying, which makes him a double-threat who’s difficult to press. Gila’s carrying was not as spotlighted in the last season under Sarri, due to an emphasis on slow, methodical build-up and ball security over pushing the pace.
That fact is highlighted above, where on the left are Gila’s carry numbers under Marco Baroni versus his carry numbers under Maurizio Sarri on the right. Lazio played more dynamically and fluidly under Baroni, encouraging Gila to bring the ball up himself more often and be able to take risks, reflected by the impressive data.
In the 2024/25 season, Mario Gila was ranked 2nd among all center-backs in the Top 5 Leagues for Progressive Carries per 90 (with Strahinja Pavlovic being ranked 6th). This is a skill that could also be utilized by Amorim, given how a back-three provides more security & opportunity for center-backs to bring the ball up themselves.
There are two scenarios where Gila’s ball-carrying can be most useful, illustrated below:
Driving through the lines
Lazio is in possession, and Gila has the ball in the center of the backline. The Napoli press is giving him space, with Alisson Santos being late to press him. This gives Gila the space and green light to accelerate forward and take advantage of the situation.
Yet another strength of Gila is his quick burst of pace and overall speed. Napoli gave him the space in midfield and he breezed through it in order to single-handedly create an attacking opportunity for his team.
Starting counterattacks
Napoli is on the attack with Politano about to pass to Hojlund. Gila reads this and is prepared to go after Hojlund as he receives the pass. Then, Gila commits to the tackle, sticking his leg out to poke the ball away from Hojlund.
Gila was quick and decisive in his carrying, important attributes when it comes to starting counterattacks, where every single second matters. Instead of stopping to look for open teammates, he took matters into his own hands and then laid it off to the attackers when it was more beneficial.
DEFENSIVE STYLE
On the defensive side of things, Gila has a very distinctive style that’s defined by his mindset and physical attributes.
Gila is listed at a height of 1.85m and a weight of 74 kg, making him fairly small for a modern center-back. Physical domination not being an option for him has led to a defensive style where the priority is to poke the ball away from attackers and pick up loose balls from opponent mis-executions (bad touches, passes, or headers).
As mentioned before, Gila is one of the quickest defenders in Italy over short bursts. His fast acceleration is the main weapon that allows him to contribute towards stopping opposing attackers from scoring.
Gila’s stance is very often low to the ground and attentive, like a predator waiting to pounce on the prey, which is the ball in this case.
Staying low allows for quicker changes of direction and makes it easier to explode forward to accelerate towards the ball or opponent. He stays uniquely low compared to most defenders (which is visible with his teammates in the image), constantly readjusting, almost seeming jumpy or erratic, indicating how he’s always engaged and ready.
His approach has borne fruit, with his Ball Recoveries per 90 ranking above the 90th percentile in each of the past two seasons after already finishing above the 80th percentile in his first full Serie A campaign.
DEFENSE IN ACTION
Recoveries
Pass played through the center of midfield, but a fumbled touch from McTominay means that the ball is up to contest. Gila pounces on the opportunity.
The example above showcases Gila’s readiness and preparation. He was already in stride to pick up the free ball, compared to Hojlund, who was ill-prepared. Additionally, Gila’s quick acceleration can be seen, bursting past Hojlund despite being further away from the ball. By getting in front of Hojlund, he was able to shield the ball from him and successfully recover possession.
Defending the channels
The ball is in Napoli’s possession and is being progressed up the pitch in a semi-transition. Hojlund initiates a channel run, and Gila follows.
The above showcases Gila’s acceleration, speed, footwork, and timing. Even though Hojlund initiated the action and Gila was a step behind at first, he recovered and absorbed the contact well, ending up ahead of Hojlund for the ball.
Hojlund ranked second, right behind Marco Palestra, for the Serie A Frecciarossa Speed Award, where his average sprint speed was measured to be 27.92 km/h. In their faceoff together, Gila came ahead multiple times, showcasing how raw speed is not the end-all and be-all in football. Timing, preparation, and how you use your physical tools matter much more, which is how Gila won the ball.
POTENTIAL WEAKNESSES
Foot races
Gila is very aware of his acceleration and speed, which leads him to utilize them to his advantage often. This can lead to situations where he will invite foot races against attackers.
This can be both a strength and a weakness for defenders. Sure, there are benefits to nudging attackers to go outside & wide over inside towards the goal, but it also invites in the possibility of losing the race and letting the attacker go past you, leaving the defense in a bad situation.
It usually works for Gila due to his speed and tackling ability, as shown in the example; those habits formed through the use of this can lead to a false sense of security against fast & skilled attackers.
Gambling on tackles/closeouts
Another risky aspect of Gila’s game is his tendency to gamble and overcommit on tackles.
In the example, Gila fully committed to the tackle on Fofana, but missed the ball, which led to Pulisic getting himself a shooting opportunity. Gila should have realized it was too late to go for the tackle there and held his ground, which would have provided him a better opportunity to catch up to Pulisic and possibly block the shot.
While a high-reward move, the risk behind it is also high, given how failing to win the ball there takes Gila out of the equation for a few seconds, which is enough for elite attackers to take advantage of the space.
MARIO GILA AT MILAN
The silver lining for these two “weaknesses” is that they both become less pronounced in a back-three, where there are more defenders to cover for overcommitments and space left behind. At Milan, Gila will likely feature as either the right center-back or central center-back and will be given lots of responsibility on the ball. His passing and carrying ability will undoubtedly be a weapon for the team in possession, while his dueling prowess and knack for recovering the ball from attackers will contribute to a solid defense, making him a dual-threat who dominates both phases of play. A spear piercing through the opposing team in possession, and a shield thwarting off attacks out of possession.
