Peru vs Denmark - New Borussia Dortmund signing out to win midfield battle

In the month’s leading up to the 2018 World Cup, the WhoScored Expert tipped Denmark’s Thomas Delaney to flourish in Russia and earn a high profile move away from Werder Bremen. The 26-year-old was linked with a move to the Premier League, but was not anticipated is that Borussia Dortmund would steal in and get a deal over the line before the tournament started.

With Delaney’s future already sorted, the Denmark international can now fully concentrate on helping his country qualify from Group C, starting with their World Cup opener against neutrals favourite Peru on Saturday.

Tottenham ace Christian Eriksen is the one to watch for Denmark and Paulo Guerrero is the star man for Peru, but neither will be able to perform to their best if their teams cannot win the midfield battle and control proceedings.

In this respect, Delaney will be vitally important for Denmark and Renato Tapia will be key for Peru. Both will take on the role as the midfield destroyer, doing the ugly work that should enable the likes of Eriksen and Guerrero to flourish.

Delaney finished last season as Werder Bremen’s highest WhoScored rated player in the Bundesliga (7.06), while a rating of 7.30 in the Eredivisie suggests Tapia should have got more playing time for Feyenoord than his 15 starts.

Both players averaged nearly four tackles and interceptions combined per league game last season and the direction of the match could well be decided by which of these midfielders is more influential in the middle of the park.

Eriksen is clearly Denmark’s main goal threat, as well as the key creator for Age Hareide’s side, but Delaney showed last season that he can also contribute in advanced areas, which Tapia cannot. In fact, only Max Kruse (12) was directly involved in more league goals for Bremen than Delaney (seven) last term.

It will be important for Denmark to ease the pressure on Eriksen wherever possible and in Delaney the Scandinavian outfit have a player capable of shining at both ends of the pitch. Tapia impressed in fits and spurts for Feyenoord last season; is he ready for the biggest stage?