“This boy does not play midfield, he has to play later,” he said to himself. Diego Simeone when Marcos Llorente it was not yet what it is today; A footballer who is as efficient as a striker, assists more than anyone in this LaLiga Santander season, averages a number of successful dribbles close to wingers or midfielders and recovers as a midfielder.
The diversity of resources, demarcations and benefits of the player offer Atlético de Madrid a total midfielder, so physically prepared for the most demanding deployment, as fast as anyone, as involved in the recovery as the most and, at the same time, so vertical, so decisive and so decisive in attack, with its breakthroughs, its overflow and his offensive punch.
Just a year ago, on the right, he scored his first goal with Atlético, on February 14, 2020. Twelve months later, he has achieved twelve more, among the other four he signed in the final stretch of last year and the eight with the ones that hits again this season; seven in LaLiga Santander and one in the Champions League.
During the visit to Granada, he emerged as a right-winger and decided as an inside: he scored a goal, with a left foot from outside the area adjusted to the post -one of his specialties as a scorer-, and made the move of the other, transformed by Angel Correa In the 1-2 with which his team reacted to last Monday's draw against Celta with the best form of all, a comforting victory, which keeps him unchanged and unattainable at the top of the table.
There are 28 players with five or more goals in this edition of LaLiga Santander. Of all of them, only one, another midfielder, Sergio Canales (Betis), exceeds the effectiveness by shot of Marcos Llorente, with 0.50 points per shot for the Madrid's 0.39, and nothing else equals it: Roger Marti, Levante forward.
Llorente's goal in Granada
MORE EFFECTIVE THAN LUIS SUÁREZ
He is also the best in that sense at Atlético. Not even the imposing Luis Suarez (0.36) equals the hit percentage of '14'. Only he surpasses him in number of goals among his teammates, with 16 goals for his seven that surpass the rest. TO Joao Félix, Ángel Correa, Saúl Ñíguez, Yannick Carrasco, Thomas Lemar …
They also do not reach their average goal per shot in this league exercise. Lionel messi (0.18), Youssef En-Nesyri (0.33), Gerard Moreno (0.28), Jose Luis Morales (0.36), Karim Benzema (0.21), Mikel Oyarzabal (0.30), Iago Aspas (0.31), Alexander Isak (0.24), Antoine Griezmann (0.14), Alvaro Negredo (0.18), Rafa Mir (0.12), Carlos Soler (0.38), Roberto Soldado (0.38), Joselu (0.13), Kike Garcia (0.14), Angel Rodriguez (0.26), Luis Suarez (0.18), Before Budimir (0.26), Cristian Portuguese, ‘Portu'(0.33), Maxi gomez (0.20), Paco Alcacer (0.28), Brais Mendez (20) and Santi Mina (0.28).
And no one has given as many assists this season in LaLiga Santander, seven, according to the official statistics of the competition, already ahead of Ángel Correa, Iago Aspas, Jorge de Frutos and Antoine Griezmann, with six. In that sense, Llorente has offered five goals to his teammates in the last six days.
His successful duels in defense are increased to 88, his ball recoveries are in the hundred and his successful dribbles are 19 (24 has been done by Joao Félix) in his matches this year in LaLiga Santander, of which he started in 17 and he played 13 complete with the versatility that the conjunction of his characteristics gives him.
“MARCOS MADE GOALS IN ALL TRAININGS”
He arrived from a defensive midfield, the position through which he circulated his stage in the Real Madrid and for the one that landed on the Athletic; He was first discovered as a right winger, because of his energy, his ability to turn and drive, and because of his speed; later as a forward, for his punch, and today he is an interior within the 5-3-2 that he proposes Simeone that contributes to his team virtues of each position.
“We, as coaches, I think that many times titles are wonderful because they fill you with emotion and glory, but when you work with a footballer and see his growth, like many of those who have spent with us and see it reflected in Marcos, you are more joyful and more enthusiastic about continuing to advance in this profession, which gives us the chance to try it when we see a footballer who has the conditions to do something different from what he had proposed up to that moment. It happened to us with Griezmann, Lucas, Koke, Saúl … And now with Marcos “, the Argentine coach valued after the victory against Granada on Saturday.
“Because it happens? Because footballers want and have the illusion of never lowering their arms. I would look for images of Marcos training when he was not even called up (at the end of September 2019 he was twice out due to a technical decision) who scored goals every training session and I said 'this boy does not play midfield, he has to play later' ”He continued Simeone.
And he added: “We joked‘ we’re going to put him forward ’until we cheer up. We put it a little later and now we are regulating the position a little more, which I think is the indoor one. It is where you start to feel more comfortable “