wild card

明日CL準決勝を控えたレアル・マドリードのモウリーニョ監督が，準々決勝の振り返るとともに，抱負を語りました。

"My players did their job. We made some mistakes in defence in the second half, but that's normal when you're winning the tie 5-0 on aggregate; you tend to lose focus a little. I have no criticisms towards my men. This team has a lot of merit and I only have good things to say about a squad that has reached this far in such fashion in two straight years."
"We came up with a lineup to win the game because I didn't think APOEL would win by four goals here and reach the next round. We used a team to win and give some players time to rest. We used Altintop as a wild card. He played as left back to give Marcelo some rest. We knew that's not his position and that he could have problems. We also wanted Granero to rest because he covered a lot of ground in our last game and we didn't use Alonso, opting for Albiol instead. He may not be a midfielder, but he needs to play and every minute on the pitch is positive for him."
http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/en/04_Abril_Actualidad_11-12/1330095971493/noticia/Noticia/Mourinho:__The_semifinals_against_Bayern_Munchen_will_be_very_even_.htm

wild cardは「ジョーカー」，口語で「予知できない要因」という意味です（『オーレックス英和辞典』旺文社）。wildにはトランプで「どんな札にも使える」という意味があります。サッカーの文脈に乗せるとWe used Altintop as a wild cardは「アルティントップをアクセントとして起用した」と訳せますでしょうか。ただの替えの選手というより，期待が込められていることを表現してみました。

本来のポジションでのプレーではなかったので，Altintopがどのようにチームにフィットするかはレアルにとっても相手にとっても未知数でした。しかし，フィールドを縦横無尽に走り回り，相手の守備陣はwild（荒れ狂う）になってしまいましたのでした。（Sugiuchi）