Atlético pays for the effort

Atlético have lived through some difficult last weeks. Beyond the performance on the field, which despite the draws against Celta and Levante have continued to be at a very high level, casualties have accumulated among Simeone's footballers.

Trippier's sanction, positive for coronavirus Carrasco, Hermoso, João Félix, Dembélé, Lemar and Herrera or the inconvenience of Giménez and Vitolo They have caused Cholo to have to constantly resort to the same players. A technician who, since the five changes were established, has become used to exhausting them, or at least to spending a large part of them, and who, for example against Celta and Granada he only made one.

And that has been charging several players with kilometers and minutes. Beyond Oblak, who has played everything in the League and Champions (2,520 minutes), three other players have exceeded 2,000. Savic (2,419), that he will not be able to play against Levante due to suspension and that he only missed the game against Alavés for the same reason Koke (2,178) and Llorente (2,111) are the most used footballers.

And against Levante, the wear and tear became apparent in the last minutes. Atlético had the great option of getting ahead from a golden opportunity by Correa, but the rojiblanca superiority in the game that had been glimpsed in the first half and at the start of the second evaporated in the last minutes. Koke lost precision until he was substituted and Llorente added a change of position to the right lane that ended up breaking him from so much going up and down the band.

Another player who has been able to notice the load of minutes is Luis Suárez. The Uruguayan has played 873 of the team's last 900 minutes in the league. With the departure of Costa and the arrival of Dembélé, who contracted the coronavirus disease, Suárez has been left without a natural substitute until the Frenchman returns, who has not yet debuted, and at 34 he is playing practically everything. He is the Pichichi of LaLiga with 16 goals and despite having two games in a row without scoring he is a constant danger, although in Granada and against Levante it went from more to less. Correa is another of the footballers who is accumulating many more minutes than usual.

A problem when it comes to the end of the game with results as tight as in the last games. Simeone has been recovering troops, in the visit to Levante he already had a bench of guarantees, was able to make four changes and Dembélé, Lemar and Herrera are very close to returning. Of course, tomorrow he will no longer have Savic and Saúl for sanction and on Tuesday he will play his third game in six days, the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Chelsea at home, but traveling to Bucharest. The concentration of setbacks has forced Cholo to squeeze key players, where the relief that may lead to having a large part of the squad available again is expected like water in May.