To the
Atlético de Madrid
He has five days to go back to competing officially. The mattress team will visit San Mamés to measure himself before the Athletic de Bilbao. Diego Pablo Simeone, coach of the rojiblanco team, will not be able to count on Joao Félix, for sanction and injury; in addition to having other doubts more like those of Angel Correa or Vitolo.
Neither the Argentine nor the Canary seemed to be part of the plans of the starting lineup for the appointment of Bilbao and it only remained to know who would be the one to occupy one of the few remaining places in eleven. Yannick Carrasco, which returned to Athletic Since Chinese football on the last day of the past January transfer market, it ranks as the most likely candidate for the bottom spot in the lineup.
The work of the Belgian since he returned to training after the break due to confinement, has convinced Simeone. For the mattress team, the depth of their squad will be key in the resumption of the competition because many games will be compressed in a very short time. Rotations will be vital and the contribution of all team members will depend a lot if the objectives are finally achieved.
And the good news for him is that he has won the game, for the moment, to another player who started in the same situation, to Thomas
Lemar. French began as the option to Simeone at the beginning of the training lap. The Cholo He opted for the French international in the first tests, but the former player of the Monaco the bellows did not last long.
In the last tests,
Simeone has bet on Carrasco
and it seems that with so few days until the game of San Mamés, he will be the chosen one to play in one of the extremes. All great news for him because since he returned to the club in this second stage, things have not gone as expected.
For starters, the player arrived with almost two months of inactivity since the Chinese league had ended on December 1. In such a way that it required extra work upon arrival to reach the competitive pace after the end of the League China, since his return, has barely once broken into the starting line-ups of Diego Simeone, at 1-1 against Spanish from last March 1. A month before it was re-released as soon as it arrived before the Real Madrid He played 19 minutes. He also came out of spare before the Pomegranate, before him Valencia and before him Seville. It's only been 156 minutes right now in the last six months.
Loaned by the Dalian until the end of this season, the Athletic In January, it played the Belgian winger, with a purchase option at the end of the course, after selling it in February 2018 to the Chinese team, when Carrasco He had a € 100 million clause – not common then at the club, now it is – and a contract that he had renewed in 2016 for six years: until 2022.
If you end up being a starter in San MamésAlmost three and a half months (105 days) will have passed since its last ownership, which was in the aforementioned Cornellà clash. The conditions of that match, which Atlético clearly lost, weighed down its virtues. The winger was forced to receive many times with his back to the rival goal and turn around against several rivals. Atlético played very long and lost almost all the second plays, a circumstance that made the Belgian's virtues to be minimized. His last minutes were before him Seville, with 37 minutes. The Belgian had no participation in the tie against the Liverpool.
YOU SEE A MORE COMPLETE PLAYER
The Belgian explained to The country before the break that he understands that he is now a much more complete player than when he left the Atlético de Madrid. “When I came here the first time I was 20 or 21 years old, I am still young, but half of my career has passed. I'm calmer, I've gained in experience for the game, in putting up with the pressure, in the work before the games … When you're younger you say: 'buah, I don't have to work, I just have to do it when I'm in the field with my talent and with what the coach asks of me. With age your body wears out and you have to take care of it because it is your engine, ’he said.
The player stated that he does not exactly believe that he has a defensive deficit as was attributed to him in his first stage in the Athletic: “I don't know if they said that, but if he was a starter, he did it yes or yes because a player who does not defend with Simeone Do not play. It is true that that is not my main quality, if it would not be lateral and not far left. ”In offense a different player is also noticeable. “My strength is my dribble and my speed, it may be that before I always tried even with my eyes closed and now I choose my moment,” said the player.