And suddenly, Sime Vrsaljko. As if the second, or third, part of a film were involved, the Croatian lives 'a second youth' in Atlético. Second and unexpected. Because the right-back was a footballer who in July, when the squad was composed, was not in any plan. His de facto inclusion in the Champions League took place in September and made headlines: the Croatian, seriously injured in one knee during his loan, forced to buy, at Inter Milan had run out of a team. The Italian team did not execute that option, it was returning it, while the first balls of the 2019-20 began to roll, the right-back was in CroatiaRecovering from an injury that still had months to go, Trippier filled the headlines and accolades and Arias responded when he played. The Vrsaljko option seemed far, far away, buried in those seasons with the shirt with scratches ripping the red and white stripes.
But Sime still had a life at Atlético, although nobody expected it (almost as few as the second part of Carrasco, a trip to Atlético three years ago). In December he took a flight to Madrid with a one-way ticket. His recovery had fringes left and he would cut them at Cerro del Espino, his knee getting stronger, his muscles more in tune. Vrsaljko training with the recuperators in the neighboring field, Vrsaljko passing the group, Vrlsajko, suddenly, turned into news again: that Vrsaljko was suddenly a starter against Leganés, eleven months after his last official match. And, hey, he did it. Yes, he looked a little lacking in rhythm, but now, he takes that, and what is not immediate, he already had: the coupling to the Cholo system, its internalized game in the legs. The following week it was in the news again: it started again. In a derby, against Madrid, Santiago Bernábeu.
And the games were happening and it was becoming routine. Vrsaljko ahead of Arias in the lineups, in the team. An Arias who in the last month has only known the stands. A Vrsaljko who has already played 482 minutes and climbing. The footballer who is currently ahead in that ranking is precisely the Colombian, 869 ', but while one is stranded, he was one of Cholo's five discards for the game against Anfield, the other increasingly counts. In the last two league games he was a substitute, but in Liverpool he was one of the Cholo men who played, protagonist of that second part of a film that no one expected but that can hold great minutes, when the competitions return, if they return this season.