He Atlético de Madrid
It is undoubtedly one of the best teams in the restart of LaLiga Santander after the pandemic, in which it has added ten points out of twelve possible that have raised it from sixth to third position and put it one step away from chaining four consecutive league victories. if he wins Alavés on Saturday, an unknown regularity for the team this season.
Improved in many ways in this express restart of the competition with matches every three days, Atlético accumulates three victories (Osasuna, Valladolid, Levante) and a draw (Athletic) in the four days played, numbers only improved by Real Madrid, leader with a full four wins, and only two teams equal, Barcelona and Villarreal, also with three wins and a draw.
The new red and white regularity has been based on its surprising stability as a visitor, since in the last dates he has added a draw and two wins in three outings, while in the previous thirteen he had barely won three games, tied seven and lost another three outside the Wanda Metropolitano.
Furthermore, the three consecutive victories (0-5 to Osasuna in Pamplona, 1-0 to Valladolid in Wanda Metropolitano and 0-1 to Levante in La Nucía) have allowed him to match his best league sequence this season, with three wins. in a row, only repeated twice: between December and January with three victories against Osasuna, Betis and Levante, and on the opening three days of the championship, when he beat Getafe, Leganés and Eibar to be the leader.
Thus, the commitment on Saturday against Alavés at 22.00 (-2 GMT) puts Atlético before an unexplored possibility this season: to chain four wins in LaLiga Santander, something that has never been achieved in this course.
Only by combining other competitions has Atlético reached a higher record, of five consecutive wins in January, between the Champions League against el Lokomotiv Moscow Russian (2-0 in the Wanda Metropolitano), the three league duels already outlined against Osasuna, Betis and Levante, and the semifinal of the Spanish Super Cup played in Saudi Arabia against Barcelona (2-3).
However, to find a streak of four consecutive victories in national competition, you have to go back to the end of last season, in which he was runner-up in the league, between days 32 and 35, when he added those four league wins against Celta, Eibar, Valencia and Valladolid, or between the dates 24 and 27, when he beat Rayo, Villarreal, Real Sociedad and Leganés.
CONTUNDENCY AS A KEY TO REGULARITY
In the dictionary of the Argentine coach of Atlético de Madrid Diego Pablo Simeone the term regularity leads directly to another concept: the offensive forcefulness, which he considers the main gap of his team, the least goalscorer of the first eight teams in the LaLiga Santander table with 39 goals in favor.
“I think we have always had consistency in the defensive phase. We have received goals like everyone, but we always had consistency. Now we have more chances to score and that gives us the feeling of winning in every game, ”explained Camilo Cano de La Nucía (Alicante) after the victory against Levante at the Olympics.
Being forceful, that is, effective in approaches to the opposite goal, is the key to the vault of this red and white regularity from the point of view of ‘Cholo’, Which equaled last Tuesday the record of victories of a rojiblanco myth, Luis Aragones, of 194 victories, a record that he obtained in far fewer games, 319 by 407 of the ‘Sabio de Hortaleza’.
“The forcefulness generates you to have better passages in the times of the matches, and you have to work and try to be as forceful as possible in those different matches that are going to take place, especially because of this situation that now affects all of us,” he said. Simeone, almost premonitory, before the thrashing of Osasuna.
Forcefulness and regularity, cause and consequence of Atlético having gone from fearing their ticket to the Champions League to third and distancing fifth place, the Getafe, in six points, will be the two ingredients that the rojiblanco team will try to maintain next Saturday against Alavés, a rival that they have won in four of their last seven duels and against which they have not lost since May 2003 (0-1 in the Vicente Calderón). The stumbling block that separates the rojiblancos from an unknown regularity.