Late, although in time to not miss the upcoming Champions League, Atlético continues its growth of play and results. Solvent and brilliant at times, he got rid of the Valencia headdress that Baraja is trying to rehabilitate. Griezmann, who hones and culminates the game, and Carrasco, who was liked as the head of the left side, lined up for the fifth victory in the last six games. Lemar, with a pass from Morata, certified the state of well-being that the team is going through and filled Simeone’s thought that it is difficult to digest those discarded from the start, that what is important is quality and not the quantity of minutes.
The duel also had the edge of two teams and two clubs that looked into each other’s eyes as alternatives to the Madrid-Barcelona duopoly. And not everything is the obvious difference of reaching the manna of participating in the Champions League year after year, as is the case with Atlético to the relief of the club and the pride of the cholismowho cheers the Argentine on fire again.
Little remains of that Valencia that whistled in the championship for being competitive. Two of his symbols are now on the bench. Baraja and Marchena, this as second, are the last hope of Valencianism as representatives of the only possible solution. Arriving with the mere game and feelings where the management is not enough and does not fill a fan who only wants the property to change hands. Baraja tries to get the team out of the hole with a handful of projects from good players, such as Guillamón, Correa, Musah, Nico, Hugo Duro or Justin Kluivert, all cooking under the pressure of the relegation fire. Insufficient to disarm this boiling Atlético. The team maintained the post-World Cup dynamic that has lifted it to third place, no longer under pressure to fight for the titles, but to achieve a place in the next Champions League. Simeone seems to have given later than he would have wanted with a solid key. He has found a backbone to add to his two most differential values, Oblak and Griezmann. The improvements of Hermoso, Molina, Llorente and De Paul, the handing over of command to Koke and the Griezmann-Depay couple. The Dutchman frequently taught the argument for which he has ousted Morata. The game with his back, which he decorated with several first-rate touches.
This more defined and stable Atlético, without the tensions generated by the debate on João Félix, is asymmetrical. Nothing new for Simeone, who repeats a changed band formula from his early years. At that time, the right wing was exclusively for Juanfran and he carried the game a lot on the left with Filipe, Koke and Arda. When the rival swung to that side, Tiago or Gabi turned the game onto Juanfran’s free court. Now the team is defeated on the right with the triangle Molina, De Paul and Llorente, and the orientation changes are for Carrasco. Sometimes, it is missing that the Belgian does not give more continuity and forcefulness to his controls in the race. But he is proud of the extremes and he tries again and again, even if he is reproached that he may have one foot left over. Last night he felt very comfortable in that me against the world that he has to interpret. And on that mortar that Griezmann sharpens from the free spaces that he seeks, Atlético played a game. An electric and precise combination from foot to foot between Llorente, De Paul, Depay and Hermoso delighted the staff, who were inflamed by Griezmann’s goal. A straight and vertical sequence that beat the three lines of Valencia. Savic-Llorente and the final run and touch of the French attacker.
Inflamed by the goal, Atlético deployed at a gallop with Depay, whose left boot was dislodged by a stomp from Foulquier. The referee did not signal a foul and Valencia executed their best maneuver of the match. A crossed pass with which Hugo Duro beat Oblak with an accurate touch. The VAR corrected and converted the goal into a direct free kick. The set also served to detect that new hierarchies are also beginning to be established in the rojiblancos. It was De Paul who executed it and wrapped a bagel that greeted the squad closely. He shows more and more his precise touch, after a year and a half without appearing to him.
Atlético did not take long to resolve the game at the restart. After three minutes, a gallop and a shot from Llorente that Depay could not nail it down. The ball fell to Carrasco and he put together a wall with De Paul that left the Belgian ready to execute Mamardashvili. Fallen to the left, a position that is not strange to him from his times as a sub-21 and at Juve, Morata took a temperate pass for Lemar to cross him and end up undoing Valencia.
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