And, suddenly, Atlético. Crouching, improving, growing and winning. Diego Simeone’s team came to be ten points behind Barcelona when it was all days of wine and roses in Flick’s team and the mattress team couldn’t find the key despite its million-dollar investments. But the Colchonero team appears in Montjuïc tied with Barça, launched and fighting for the lead. Mixing competitions, Atlético has eleven consecutive victories. It is the best Atlético since 2012, when it managed to accumulate thirteen wins in a row, in what is the most successful streak in its history. Full of confidence and taking advantage of the unexpected setbacks of Barça and Madrid, the red and white team has entered fully into the fight for the League. Like every season, Cholo appears in Blaugrana territory with a pending score. The Argentine has never won as a coach in a Barcelona fiefdom. Never. In no competition. 17 visits with a balance of 10 losses and 7 draws. Simeone has won at the Bernabéu, at Anfield, at Stamford Bridge, at San Siro, at Old Trafford or at the Parc des Princes, but never on the road against Barça. “I have won almost everywhere, but obviously I have not found the key in Barcelona, it is clear. “You always want to improve in life and it is a challenge,” explained the coach, who foresees an “entertaining” meeting.
“Barça is a team full of quality, with Raphinha who, with his courage and predisposition, is one of the best footballers in the League. They don’t have Lamine Yamal, who is extraordinary, but they do have other players to achieve what they are looking for. We also have our strength, that’s why,” reflected Cholo.
I have never won on Blaugrana territory, I have not found the key, but it is a challenge.”
Rarely has he arrived at the game in Barcelona in such a positive dynamic. Who was going to tell Simeone a couple of months ago? Then, Sorloth was a disaster, Griezmann was going through a period of drought and Julián Álvarez had not finished demonstrating his undeniable quality. But the three have taken flight.
The Griezmann-Julián Álvarez couple deserves a separate chapter. French and Argentine are reversible, interchangeable and undetectable. They both give a goal pass and complete the play. In this triumphant streak of eleven games, the Spider has scored eight goals, when in the previous fourteen they had only managed four. It took him a while to adapt to the characteristics of Simeone’s football, but he has already gotten the hang of it. “Julián has a great hierarchy, it is difficult to teach him something, we just try to surround him as best as possible,” Simeone gave him. Meanwhile, Griezmann has scored seven goals in this series, some of them beautifully crafted. He has once again been that footballer who is fine in finishing and elusive in unmarking. Of course, the Frenchman, like Simeone, has never beaten Barça as a visitor, neither with Atlético nor with Real Sociedad. With the red and white shirt he has only scored three goals, none of them away from home. In fact, in the last eleven games he has come up dry against Barcelona.
“We have our strengths, but Barça has one of the best: Raphinha”
Sorloth remains in the bedroom. The Norwegian giant, failing to the point of desperation at the beginning of the season and absolutely lost in Cholo’s counterattacking football, has found its space. He has been acting as a catalyst and has scored four goals in the team’s six consecutive victories in the League. Added to this arsenal are the everlasting Ángel Correa, already recovered from a blow, and Simeone’s son, Giuliano.
In the other area, Atlético has recovered its classic defensive solvency. In six of the eleven games of his streak, Oblak has put the lock and only Sevilla managed to score more than one goal (three). Simeone has the entire squad available. Everything is going his way.
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