Losses by the minimum against rivals in the lower zone (0-1, Santa Teresa), draws in the last breath (1-1, Rayo Vallecano), six missed penalties between the League and the Champions League, numerous injuries – short and long-term – and now, the feeling that Atlético is not able to take advantage of the numerical superiority on the field against its rivals.
The season is not being easy for a rojiblanco team that, even so, managed to lift the Spanish Super Cup last January after an unexpected change of coach. Unexpected because the mattress club made the relief of Dani González official just one day before the semifinal dispute of the tournament against Barcelona.
Atlético's irregular campaign seemed to come to an end with the return of the league champion coach in 2018-19. The rojiblancas eliminated the Catalans in the penalty shoot-out and won the final against Levante (0-3) to win the first title of the season.
However, the 'Sánchez Vera effect' vanished at a stroke just 12 days later, when Levante endorsed the mattresses with a resounding 3-0. The granotas signed a revenge of the round Super Cup, removing the Madrid from Champions positions and leaving their problems latent.
And there they continue. Because later came the draw against Granadilla Tenerife (2-2), the defeat at home against Santa Teresa (0-1) and, in recent weeks, the elimination in the knockout stages of the Champions League against Chelsea and the first defeat against Real Madrid in a derby.
143 minutes outnumbered
Both were especially painful due to the feeling of having had the games in the face from very early on and not having taken advantage of it. In the first leg before blues, Atlético played with one more footballer from 12 'due to the expulsion of Ingle —That he committed a penalty that Deyna Castellanos would miss. Later, against Real Madrid, Sánchez Vera's were one more on the pitch from 12 'to 77', which saw the second yellow Deyna.
In total, the rojiblanco team He added 143 minutes in a numerical superiority that he did not know how to take advantage of, not even in terms of the number of chances created.
Thus, eliminated from the Champions League in the eighth and fifth in the Primera Iberdrola, this weekend Atlético has no other option but to redeem himself on his visit to Sporting Huelva. “Each game is a final, we know what we have left and what we have to do”, Colombian Leicy Santos has stated in statements to the club. The difficult field of The Order awaits.