There are times when logic in football is an impossible chimera. Ángel Correa, Atlético’s most anarchic footballer, put his team’s game to the test to certify the pass for the quarter-finals of the cup. Simeone’s team had been shipwrecked in the first half, disoriented and dwarfed by missing two consecutive passes. And it was Correa who changed the plan to his companions.
He sharpened a few transitions and it was enough for Atlético to finish Levante. Perhaps Correa is the player Simeone is the most unfair with every time he benches him. Even in his worst games, he always gives something. And last night he brought in what his team lacked most, clairvoyance and precision in midfield and in the final meters. Behind Correa, Atlético reached the quarter-finals of the cup for the first time since the 2017/18 season. He contributed to the two goals and returned to assert himself as indispensable in a side that struggled with the ball.
Football is a game where the ball provides continuity. It’s about having a good time, which is what Atlético footballers failed to do in the first half. The lack of precision affects not only the goal, but also the passing and control, basic principles of the game. That jar of failed deliveries was nonsense and an aberration in a team full of internationals and two recent world champions, Molina and De Paul. Both are well on their way to becoming world champions of bad centers this season.
The trend was so widespread that it betrayed a team with no calm or temper. Even Griezmann, who has become the only decent player on his feet in recent games, has joined this square-booted football. This time Levante didn’t grow because Simeone ordered a step back or was reluctant in his approach. He played with Llorente, Morata and Griezmann at the helm and with De Paul and Barrios escorting Kondogbia. It was his footballers that gave him leadership of the party. Giving them the ball, Son, Montiel, Musonda, De Frutos and the pugnacious Bouldini emerged. The Moroccan attacked Oblak in the penalty area with his arm on an air ball and the contact was ruled a foul by the referee after Pepelu used the rebound to score. Simeone’s players sighed. If he hadn’t had a pass in the tied game, he would have tripped on the score against his madness. Bouldini himself left her pale in the next game with a hard shot that whistled over the bar.
The end of the first half was another relief for Atlético given the game disaster their players drew. Simeone ran the youth squad of Barrios from a seated position. In fact, in the face of such nonsense, he could have sent anyone to the bank. The one chosen to fix the party was Correa, and this was the hand of a saint. With a couple of precise passes into space, he reminded his teammates that football isn’t possible without spinning each other. His entry didn’t mean Llorente was delaying his position. Among the means Simeone is looking for to get out of the pothole, the penultimate was putting him behind the wheel as a striker. In the last few meters, its explosiveness is crucial for penetrating into space. And so he did when Correa saw him out of the corner of her pre-bent eye. Llorente’s center was caught by Morata at the far post. Atlético was different.
cry forward
More established and with less need for defense in its area. Just in case, Simeone brought on Saúl for Morata, putting Correa ahead and delaying Llorente. Kondogbia’s elbow at Alex Muñoz from a header inside the box returned his concern. The VAR determined that it was not a penalty. The action and subsequent entry of Soldado led to a final indictment by Levante. A bombardment from lateral centers that oblak and his central centers had little to oppose. Until Llorente confirmed his place in football is from midfield forward to culminate in a counterattack that also saw Correa intervene and even Molina hit the final pass. That’s so primary and crucial in football.
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