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With more than 700 games in charge of the Atlético de Madrid, Diego Simeone I had never experienced one like this Saturday: beat Barcelona as a visitor for the first time. Had to spend a lot of time and leave behind 17 games (10 losses and seven draws) -or 13 years- so that Cholo, naturally effusive, could unleash the euphoria that overwhelmed him in the last seconds of the six added minutes, when the norwegian Alejandro Sorloth crowned a counterattack strung together by Julián Álvarez, Rodrigo De Paul and the assistance center Nahuel Molina. AND 2-1 that could not fit into anyone’s imagination because of what the development had been like.
A incredible victory of Atlético de Madrid, who suffered for the most part in a match that seemed to be headed for Barcelona for its football superiority and greater number of goal situations created. There were 19 shots (seven on goal) by Hansi Flick’s team against five (four) by the rival. Atlético de Madrid applied Simeone’s manual: endurance, capacity for suffering, Jan Oblak to work the miracle with some saves and effectiveness to counterattack.
The top of the Spanish League was at stake and that it was entirely for Atlético, who is going to spend the Holidays in the midst of an unbeatable dynamic: added the 12th consecutive victory for all official competitions. Seven days ago it was 10 points below the then leader Barcelona, very tender in the last games, with home defeats against Las Palmas and Leganés, and missing the injured man terribly. Lamina Yamal, whose absences in five matches led to four falls and a draw.
In the heat of Atlético’s auspicious news, a definition was created whose authorship is unknown: mechanical roast, in allusion to the influence of the large Argentine community on the squad, with Simeone father and son (Giuliano), Molina, De Paul, Álvarez, Ángel Correa and Juan Musso. “I guess it’s something about the aura and energy that we Argentines are generating, I guess,” De Paul tried to explain with a laugh. To the mechanical roast Uruguayan Josema Giménez and a Antonio Griezmann which has well assimilated the River Plate customs, including mate.
It was a suffocation exercise the one Barcelona did over Atlético de Madrid in the first half. Forward pressure, high intensity, ball that traveled quickly from one player’s feet to another. Simeone’s team was forced to play the kind of development that it is not unfamiliar with and that often paid off: tight lines in its field and constant help to reduce space for the rival. An approach that did not have the necessary complement of resting a little with possession of the ball or the search for a counterattack to at least make Barcelona doubt.
With Raphinha in Yamal’s position, Barcelona monopolized the game, but at times there was too much repetition with crosses for Lewandowski or the playmakers who took the area by storm, such as Gavi, Fermín López or Pedri. Three minutes had passed and Barcelona had already had two goal situations, not taken advantage of due to failures in the last touch.
Atlético de Madrid arrived with the scheme and the performers that in the last two months shaped the best stretch of the season. But in the first 45 minutes it was overshadowed by the local deployment. Inferior collectively and individually, with De Paul overwhelmed by traffic in the middle zone and Álvarez always in retreat, without the possibility of establishing any connection with Griezmann.
The best of Barcelona 1 – Atlético de Madrid 2
He sustained dominance of Barcelona deserved award. He had it after 30 minutes, with a goal of his own. Acceleration and technical resources. Pedri combined with Gavi, who with a turn of his heel ended up giving Pedri an assist, with enough space in the area for the definition. Atlético’s suffering continued, with De Paul intercepting another clear chance for the locals.
Only in the last five minutes Atlético was able to stretch a little, with a combination between Julián and De Paul near the rival area. “They did very well. “We have to go out and push a little more,” Julián expressed to the official broadcast, before starting the second half. And although possession was a little more distributed, the most favorable chances continued to be for Barcelona, with a block by Oblak on Fermín, a cross shot that was barely deflected by Pedri and a shot by Raphinha that hit the crossbar, after a wonderful assist from Pedri, the figure of Barcelona for his clarity to improve each play.
Atlético suffered another setback with the departure due to injury of Gimenez, replaced by Witsel, that a few minutes after entering he committed a yellow card foul at the gate of the area. The match was for Barcelona’s second, but Atlético’s tie came, which portrayed the weakness of the local defense as soon as it was a little stretched. The action was started by De Paul in his own half with an assist for Álvarez’s run, whose center behind had no recipient, but Casadó, with an imprudent cue interception, did nothing more than leave an assist for Paul, very lucid and accurate to make it 1-1 from outside the area with a cross shot next to a post.
It was Paul’s third goal in the last four games. A very valuable harvest in a midfielder who is not usually given the goal often. Equality increased the combustion of the match. Simeone put fresh legs to continue holding on with the income of Nahuel Molina (Llorente went from No. 8) for Giuliano Simeone and the historic Koke for Gallagher.
Barcelona continued to create scoring situations, but desperation clouded it, and they also ran into a regular Atlético figure in this type of match: Oblak, decisive with blocked shots against Pedri and Raphinha. It wasn’t Lewandowski’s night either, erratic in front of goal.
Atlético de Madrid already considered the tie a good one when it used its favorite weapon of the counterattack, a resource that it always has at hand, and even more so to survive in games in which it seems overwhelmed. It was not in a Camp Nou still in repairs, but on the side of the mountain of Montjuic (Espanyol field), the mechanical roast cooked up a historic triumph.
