Atlético is a melting pot of cultures. The rojiblanco team has one of the shortest squads in LaLiga, with just 22 first-team players, but 14 different national teams are represented. With the winter incorporation of Daniel Wass and Reinildo Mandava, Two countries that had hardly been in force in the history of the club are completed.
The Dane follows in the footsteps of a Jesper Gronkjaer who joined Atlético in January 2005, but he only stayed with the team for six months before being transferred to Stuttgart despite the fact that he had made a good impression on the fans. In the 1940s, the Danish Börge Mathiesen had signed as a rojiblanco, but he did not even make his debut. And in the case of Reinildo, he becomes the first Mozambican footballer to wear the mattress shirt.
Thus, and taking into account the departure of Ivan Saponjic to Slovan from Bratislava, Atlético finds two curiosities in its squad: all of its players have been called up by their country’s senior team and there are 14 different teams represented. As for the nationalities, the Danish and the Mozambican They replace Trippier’s English and Saponjic’s Serbian, Atlético’s two winter losses. And, as happened at the end of last year (when Manu Sánchez and Saponjic were loaned out and Llorente made his debut with Spain), All the players at Simeone’s disposal have been summoned at least once by his senior team.
Yes indeed, Benjamin Lecomte did not make his France debut, and watched full matches from the bench against Germany and the Netherlands in September 2018 and against Bolivia and Turkey in June 2019. His compatriots Griezmann (102 games) and Lemar (27), they have dressed the bleu. Kondogbia also did it in five friendly matches, but the pivot opted for the Central African Republic, where he accumulates eight disputed duels. The Spanish team has three representatives: Koke (61), Llorente (12) and Hermoso (5). Also three have Brazil, with Lodi (15), Cunha (6) and Felipe (2).
With two internationals they are Uruguay, with Suárez (132) and Giménez (75) Y Argentina, which has From Paul (37) and Correa (19). And with a single participant appear Mexico (Herrera, 95), Montenegro (Savic, 61), Belgium (Carrasco, 54), Croatia (Vrsaljko, 51), Slovenia (Oblak, 44), Denmark (Wass, 41), Mozambique (Reinildo, 31) and Portugal (Joao Felix, 20). A total of 22 footballers, where everyone knows what it’s like to receive a call from their coach and a squad that includes an amalgamation of nationalities that make Atlético one of the most diverse teams in Europe.