2023-11-26 00:05:59
On the day of Koke’s sixth centenary wearing the red and white shirt, the team he captains added its eighteenth consecutive home win in all competitions. The Civitas Metropolitano, worth the cliché, is a fortress from which Mallorca was also defeated, by the minimum and thanks to a goal from the almost always, Antoine Griezmann. Despite the shortness of the score and the scares that the islanders gave in the final stretch, one can speak without error of a fair result.
It didn’t take even five minutes for Samu Lino to announce a nightmare night to his counterpart, Gio González. The Brazilian occupied the entire left lane and his teammates cleared the area for him to create unique duels with the full-back, whom he literally drove crazy. His first incursion was crowned with a back pass that Correa did not make due to the close presence of Valjent, who hindered him just enough for him to shoot high.
Javier Aguirre’s plan, somewhat rudimentary, consisted of accumulating people at the edge of his area and throwing long balls for Muriqi to negotiate… what happened is that the Kosovar was not there and that task of lone ranger fell to the meritorious Abdón Prats, who pressed with enthusiasm and even caused a bad clearance by Oblak that Sergi Darder could not take advantage of. However, the spider web woven with three centre-backs and Costa as a stopper up front allowed him to survive until the break without any surprises.
The second half must have been preceded by a sudden touch from Simeone in the locker room, because his boys came out to tear down the vermilion wall. Morata tried three times in a row, alive in a low header that Rajkovic saved and with poor aim in two shots with his foot in open positions. But the unblocker, as so often, was Antoine Griezmann. The “Little Prince” was not having a good game. Better written: he was playing frankly badly. But that’s what superheroes have, they appear just when necessary.
Simeone had brought out De Paul and Riquelme to give his team a shake within the final half hour, in the minutes before impatience. On his first ball, “Rorro” activated Mario Hermoso, who crossed a rained ball from very far to the penalty spot. Impossible to finish? Almost, unless an excellent header like Griezmann appears like there, who gave the ball the strength it lacks with a very violent turn of the neck. Great goal for the entire squad and one step less, there are only three left to take Luis Aragonés’ record.
By force they hang and also by force they attack the modest visitors in the fields of the greats. Aguirre created a double team with Amath Ndiaye and Larin, which sowed trouble in the Atlético defense. Chances began to arise around the Canadian, who did not equalize because he crashed his shot into the back of his teammate Costa, who was down in the six-yard box, forced a corner from Gio’s shot that was stopped by Oblak and left Ndiaye alone with a deep pass, but the dizzying African player, with a past in the mattress youth team, crossed his definition too far.
Until the third minute of stoppage time, in which Mallorca took a corner, Atlético suffered in which Memphis appeared again in the final moments to show that the long inactivity has weighed it down. Simeone will have time to get him in tune and add him to the cause.
#Griezmann #unblocks #Atlético