Atlético is Lost in the Shadows

After Grizi lost a strange ball, and it was not the first, Simeone made the last move: Reinildo for Sorloth. Surprising to say the least. There were those in the stands who took it badly, more because a defender appeared to replace a forward than because of the certainty that the previous hasty changes had already harmed an Atlético that was lost in the shadows and that barely had one more until the end. In reality, the technology had clarified much earlier, when it cancelled the one that had gone in by Riquelme at the start of that second half, that no matter how the personnel was positioned, none was going to go in.

And that was after Llorente, Barrios and Antoine had appeared in one go. And then Correa appeared. It sounds good, but the noise was louder than the nuts. In fact, that Atlético was worse than the previous one, which only lacked a goal, nothing less than a goal. Espanyol appeared at the Metropolitano without a bad league goal to take home and that continues, but the points box is no longer empty after a draw that tasted like candy from the blue and white perspective and lightning from the red and white one. The first scratch at the Metropolitano was suffered by the team of La Araña, which had already been taken out of the litigation.

The first hydration break was a godsend for Espanyol, who had been shaken up until then by an Atlético that had done everything except what it had to do. The Espanyol squad realised that their uniforms were intact, however, and they built a collective play that left Puado alone and from close range to score the first of the night, which was all that was missing . The boy threw it out perhaps because of what people would say, because a good part of the previous half hour had been a monologue in which the staff barely bet on the moment when Simeone’s team would score, a moment that by the way did not come.

Atlético is Lost in the Shadows.

Julián had had two, one saved by Joan and another deflected. Lino had hit the post, although as the flag had been raised but the whistler conceded the advantage, we will never know if that would have been on the scoreboard or not. Sorloth, another of those, had headed and shot wide. In short, Atlético had subjected a rival that accepted the “let them give it to me.” Cholo’s troops and their frenetic pace had deserved much more than Manolo’s and his weak performance, without the capacity in any case to really unbalance what seemed unbalanced.

After Puado’s goal and before the break, the home team had just one more, designed with the determination of Julián and De Paul, in Joan’s hands again, which connected with Sorloth’s head. So it was as it had started, so the man in the black suit confirmed once again that rotation is not a luck that pays special attention to it. Three of the regulars did not even complete the warm-up of the substitutes, because there was no time to lose. To the dressing room to receive instructions, to the field to put ‘plan B’ into action. Among those who did not reappear, indeed, was Julián. Nobody said it would be easy for the newcomer. And then, without him, helplessness.

First of all, I would like to congratulate the brilliant people who have the coaches rotating in the third round of the League. Including, of course, the clubs themselves, who are quick to approve schedules that could be defined as absurd if, what is worse, they were not also dangerous. With three consecutive rounds of August in the making, there are those who are already throwing up their hands. Manolo, meanwhile, is boasting of his first point in the top flight . Hard-earned, because this is about putting it in the cage. Atlético is definitely under construction.