Atlético's defense, in tension

Simeone has two weeks to go around the Atleti of the most immediate future. The arrival of Griezmann raises the possibilities in the attack, but the break is filling him with doubts in defense. Savic has been in discomfort during the concentration with Montenegro and this Tuesday he was not even on the bench. Giménez, meanwhile, will play on the night from Thursday to Friday against Ecuador, so it will arrive in Madrid with little margin for Sunday.

Atlético has only four centrals in the squad and usually plays with three startup, so any mishap causes the scheme to wobble. And now the coaching staff is concerned about two of those pieces. In Madrid he has Hermoso and Felipe available, who has not yet made his debut after recovering from the knee injury that took him out of the Copa América. The Spanish is fixed and the Brazilian has many options to be a starter.

Kondogbia and Vrsaljko, emergency options

A) Yes, everything will depend on how Cholo sees Savic and Giménez after their returns. The Uruguayan will hardly have a training session before visiting Espanyol and may rest thinking about Porto (Wednesday 15). With the Montenegrin, his physical condition will be decisive, because he will rest later in the Champions League by suspension. As a third option, Simeone handles the options by Kondogbia (as before Elche) and Vrsaljko, that are still patches. Each FIFA date will put Atleti in tension …