The late entry of the talent that was on the bench and the substitution of João Felix condemned Atletico in Leverkusen. When the game was his, when the Portuguese finally saw himself capable of doing damage because there were soccer players around him to accompany him, Simeone ordered his change and his team got into the game that was least convenient for him. He entered disoriented in the round trip and ended up finished in two manual cons. A painful defeat before the derby that Atletico added for not going before for the real game.
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Hradecky, Kouakou Odilon Kossounou, Edmond Faycial Tapsoba (Mitchel Bakker, min. 88), Piero Hincapie Reyna, Jonathan Tah, Callum Hudson Odoi (Nadiem Amiri, min. 90), Moussa Diaby (Azmoun, min. 88), Kerem Demirbay, Adam Hlozek (Jeremie Frimpong, min. 68), Robert Andrich and Schick (Aranguiz, min. 88)
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Ivo Grbic, Mario Hermoso, Nahuel Molina (Griezmann, min. 62), Witsel, Reinildo Mandava (Carrasco, min. 61), Felipe Monteiro, Koke, Saul (De Paul, min. 45), Marcos Llorente, João Felix (Correa , min. 72) and Morata (Matheus Cunha, min. 72)
goals 1-0 min. 83: Robert Andrich. 2-0 min. 86: Moussa Diaby.
Referee Michael Oliver
Yellow cards Kouakou Odilon Kossounou (min. 31), Jonathan Tah (min. 38) and Robert Andrich (min. 76)
The unraveling of the absences due to the injuries of Oblak, Savic and Gimenez, Simeone once again granted Grbic the title and tried a new central triplet. He kept Witsel on the right, placed Felipe in the middle and Hermoso on the left. The Belgian’s second consecutive line-up as a right-handed center-back betrays a search for a clean start for him and overprotection for the hesitant Molina, also escorted from the front by the legs of Marcos Llorente. The left lane went to Reinildo due to fears of Diaby, which condemned Carrasco to the bench. From the line-up, Atletico lacked a fine foot, with the exception of João Felix, but he managed to contain a rival that has lowered the revolutions compared to the team that dazzled last year in the Bundesliga. He was at the expense of Demirbay’s inventiveness and made little use of the threats that Diaby and Hudson-Odoi could pose. This delved into the warmth of Molina tunneling him on the side of the area. The corpulent Schik did not reach his past thread by means of a fringe. This also failed to control a couple of deliberate balls that put two bad closures by Hermoso and Felipe on the wire and in solfa. There was the electric start of Leverkusen.
At Atletico, only João Felix prevailed. He greatly felt the lack of more sharp companions. Griezmann for example, or Correa. In situations like this, it is when the Frenchman’s sentence to play only half an hour is embarrassing for the club and for the coach. At times, João gave a recital of midpoint. For domain of the spaces to let the ball run and for dribbling courage. The pain of it was the panorama of square feet that was found around him. Sometimes his teammates didn’t see him when he was camouflaged behind the backs of Demirbay, Hlozek and Andrich and what’s worse, also when he accompanied them in the transitions in the middle lane. He did not find in the entire first half a partner who would give continuity to his repertoire and his will to set himself up as the party’s chieftain. He tried to clean up a dirty ball game and inaccurate touches up and down the field that led to tactical fouls. The hubbub produced hubbub and Atletico approached the goal in a shot from Hermoso that went high after the ball bounced from Tabsoba’s hands. The VAR determined that the ball should have touched the Leverkusen center-back’s thigh earlier, because if not, the decision is not understood. Felipe was also able to catch another ruckus in the German area.
Chaos after the relay
Simeone was no stranger to his team’s lack of play. He operated somewhat slowly, but he was putting in shovelfuls of talent. First with De Paul for Saul to stabilize a team that could well have broken down due to an error in a header from Felipe. The blunder left Grbic hand in hand with Schick. The strike of the Czech nine burst the crossbar and the rebound was headed by Hlozek at will. A finger from Grbic deflected the ball to the post. After that scare, Simeone, as dictated by the maneuver to lower Griezmann’s price, put the Frenchman and Carrasco after the hour of play for Molina and Reinildo. The load of players led to the best, led to the best minutes for Atletico. João Felix found a dance partner to triangulate and drive Leverkusen crazy. The ball was running and there was a sense of threat that De Paul corroborated with a screw into which Hradecky had to put his fist.
If anyone was up for the substitution, it was Morata, but Simeone also opted to withdraw João Felix to bring in Cunha and Correa. Simeone lacked an eye to detect that João Felix was enjoying that associative game. With his departure, Atletico suddenly flattened out. He stopped flowing and conceded an open game to give Leverkusen their best weapon. In two Fringpong races he executed Atletico with shots at the pleasure of Andrich and Diaby. His moment had been another. When the talent came in, albeit late. And he gave Leverkusen the victory when he was left without his best soccer player, which he did not understand because they did not let him enjoy it.
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Source: EL PAIS
