There are times when a team wins more out of necessity and conviction than by play. This happened this Saturday with Atlético, who had to recover with union sweat and craftsmanship to beat a Girona team that started the match by setting the pace with a goal from Dovbyk. The comeback was also an exercise in opportunism reflected in the three goals. Atlético took advantage of three plays that went nowhere. A penalty at the hands of Miguel Gutiérrez and Morata's faith in not giving up a ball that went over the baseline and ended up hitting Correa's head put Simeone's team ahead in first-half stoppage time. At the end of the second, Griezmann took advantage of a mistake in a clearance by Solís to score his team's third goal. A definitive stick for a good Girona, who had not only exhibited their precise and aesthetic way of linking passes in transitions.
3
Oblak, Savic, Mario Hermoso, Nahuel Molina, Reinildo Mandava (Witsel, min. 45), Koke, Saúl (Morata, min. 40), De Paul (Azpilicueta, min. 74), Rodrigo Riquelme (Samuel Lino, min. 68 ), Griezmann (Marcos Llorente, min. 68) and Correa
1
Gazzaniga, Miguel Gutierrez, Daley Blind, David López (Arnau Martinez, min. 64), Eric Garcia, Jhon Solís, Yan Couto, Yangel Herrera (Portu, min. 64), Sávio (Valery Fernández, min. 82), Aleix García and Dovbyk (Stuani, min. 82)
Goals 0-1 min. 3: Dovbyk. 1-1 min. 34: Griezmann. 2-1 min. 50: Griezmann. 3-1 min. 51: Strap.
Referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea
Yellow cards Saúl (min. 25), Yangel Herrera (min. 31), Correa (min. 35), Yan Couto (min. 69) and Marcos Llorente (min. 91)
Dovbyk's goal was born in a brilliant run by Savinho to split the entire right wing defended by Nahuel Molina and then head down the diagonal to play with Yangel Herrera in the crescent of the area. Couto doubled him and took out a low scepter that Dovbyk only had to push. An academy goal, after shaking off Atlético's uncoordinated pressure with speed, overflow and touch and taking the play from side to side. For plays like that, Girona has earned the status of being the team that has played football the best this season. Girona played that attractive game for twenty long minutes. So much so that he made Simeone rectify. With the focus on the visit to Dortmund on Tuesday, Witsel, Marcos Llorente and Morata were bench meat. Not only had the red and white coach oxygenated the team, he had also returned to the defense of four, with Reinildo at left back. Given the absence of Lino in Dortmund due to suspension, the Mozambican defender's lineup aimed at a test to see if he, either as a winger in a defense of four, or as a winger in a defense of three centre-backs, has recovered his tone and rhythm of play that he still did not seem to have found after a year of injury.
The drawing or the alignment did not work with Riquelme at right back, Saúl as a companion to Koke and De Paul and with Griezmann and Correa at the top. For Girona it was enough to close the interior corridors to uncover the red and white thickness. He gave way on the sides so that Atlético could get lost in lateral centers against which Griezmann and Correa had little to do against Blind and David López. With the goal against, the ineffectiveness in attack and the ease with which Girona jumped the lines of pressure, Simeone ordered the return to the defense of three.
The Cholo footballers felt more comfortable with the return to the header system of the last year and a half. The blackboard movement took Griezmann out of the area and put him into the game. Atlético was more threatening. In some way, Girona also helped him grow. He had Atlético on the ropes, but he believed that by maintaining positions in his own field he would succeed.
Without much football, Atlético turned the match into a matter of commitment and craftsmanship. He had both. The penalty was awarded from a lateral foul by Miguel Gutiérrez, who jumped wildly with his limbs open and at his own free will to try to prevent Mario Hermoso from connecting with a header. Griezmann adjusted the shot low, to the left of Gazzaniga.
With the tie, Girona still seemed to have control of the match, but they were already a less sharp and more horizontal team, without giving Savinho as much escape. Morata's entry for Saúl, which broke after half an hour, gave the red and whites more strength. However, Savinho could have been subject to a penalty because between De Paul and Reinildo he was knocked down an inch inside the area. The referee did not point out a foul. Soon, Morata signed the play of the match, a mixture of faith to chase the ball to the baseline, skill to prevent it from coming out with a roulette wheel, and precision to glove a thread with hemlock. To the space between the two centre-backs where Correa emerged to deflect the trajectory of the goal with a diving header.
Without having been inferior, Girona went into the break at a disadvantage. And he was hit again as soon as the match resumed. A bad cross from De Paul into the area was cleared by Solís' ankle and the ball went back. Griezmann was lurking there, and with his battered right ankle he shot Gazzaniga from above with a violent shot. The scenario was already favorable for Atlético. He did not suffer excessively from Girona's attacks to try to reduce the score. He rushed Oblak with a couple of long shots, but never seemed to put the red and white victory in danger.
Atlético needed this victory to maintain its two-point advantage over fifth-placed Athletic, and get within four points of Girona. If their place in the Champions League semi-finals is at stake on Tuesday, yesterday they were at risk of not stagnating in their quest to play it next season.
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