The final at eight o'clock Champions League in Lisbon emphasizes constant examination of Diego Costa, today much more undoubted in the eleven than in the numbers or in the goals and with a pending revenge with the maximum European competition since the 2014 final in Lisbon, but also with his second stage in the Athletic of Madrid, still far from the level that astonished Europe six years ago, diminished by injuries in the last two years and currently relaunched by the return to competition and the unalterable confidence in him of the Argentine Diego Simeone.
He lasted eight minutes in the 2014 Champions League final, knocked out by an injury from which he tried to recover by all means – even the day before he made changes of pace from one side of the field to the other in the last previous session. to the duel at the stadium Benfica-, but whose reality was evident in the first fight for the ball; In the decisive match of the round of 16 against Juventus last season, he was suspended due to suspension, after his tremendous staging in the first leg; and in Liverpool, this same campaign in the second leg of that same round, he completed an irrelevant match, replaced by Marcos Llorente before meeting time.
Scorer eleven times in 34 matches in the top European competition, between Atlético (nine goals) and Chelsea, the fact is that eight of them are concentrated in the same exercise, in that shocking 2013-14, with figures as formidable as the leadership he exercised in the team led by Simeone, essential to reach the final in Lisbon against Real Madrid. But afterwards his goals have been sporadic, too much for a scorer of the stature of the Spanish international: in his last 25 games in this tournament, he has only beaten the rival frame three times. None this season.
You need a vindication. An indisputable match. They have been counted since his return to Atlético: the European Super Cup against Real Madrid, when he led the victory of the rojiblanco team against Real Madrid in Tallinn with two goals and recognition as the best player in that duel, which dates back to August 2018; the return of the semifinals of the Europa League a few months earlier against Arsenal at the Metropolitano; or the first leg of the round of 16 of the highest continental competition against Juventus, when he took over every ball against the Turin defense … And not many more.
These are three examples of his ability. Of everything he can contribute to Atlético. And of all the importance that it means for the team in a stake of the characteristics of next Thursday's duel against Leipzig at the José Alvalade stadium in Lisbon. The offensive profile of the German bloc may require the rojiblanco team to retreat in many sections. And the best way to move forward is the mechanism that Simeone has promoted so many times in duels of this type and with which the Spanish-Brazilian attacker shows so much skill, when he must protect, hold, run or control a clearance to facilitate advance of lines around the block. Something like a year ago with Juventus at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Because Diego Costa will be the starter at Atlético next Thursday, judging by all the tests that Simeone has done. “After the return he has been showing his best version in intensity, aggressiveness, pressure, ruptures, spaces for those who come from behind …”, explained the technician a few weeks ago, referring to a resumption of the championship that has rearmed the ram: He has started six of the last eleven LaLiga Santander appointments, in which he has contributed more goals, three, and the same assists, two, than in the previous 19 games, when he had only scored two goals in all competitions. And one penalty.
17 GOALS IN 70 GAMES SINCE HIS RETURN
Although he is still a considerable distance from determining his first rojiblanco era, especially that 2013-14 campaign, in which he broke all his personal records to lead the League and qualify for the final of the Champions League of the Atlético, his current moment is the most recognizable since his return in September 2017 to the team trained by Diego Simeone, who insisted so much on his return, although his debut was delayed until January 2018.
Since then he has played 70 of the 127 official matches that his team has played, with 17 goals and 12 assists. Something every four games on average. In his first stage, with 64 goals in 137 games, his average was twice as good: one goal every two games.
Halted by two major injuries – an operation on the fifth metatarsal of his left foot kept him out of thirteen games last season and a cervical disc herniation has saved him from sixteen crashes this season – plus a few muscle ailments and the suspension of eight games that The Competition Committee imposed on him last season for his expulsion with Barcelona at the Camp Nou, he has not found regularity either physically or technically since his long-awaited reunion with Atlético, after three years at Chelsea.
“When we were stopped by the virus, I took the opportunity to pick up my tone, to improve, to be better physically and not let time go by. Within the difficulties you have to take advantage and take advantage of the good things. I prepared myself to return, to be able to play games and not suffer injuries, because there were many games in a row one after the other. I wanted to come back well and that I could have a sequence to be able to pick up physical tone, which is what I have been looking for for a while since I have returned, “he said on the club's website last Thursday.
REST SUNDAY, TRAINING MONDAY AND TRIP TO LISBON
Atlético rests this Sunday, according to the club. On Monday he will return to work in his last session before traveling to Lisbon, where he will travel by air in the afternoon with the eleven defined in nine of the eleven positions. The doubts are in the right side (Kieran Trippier or Santiago Arias) and in the center of the field (Héctor Herrera or Ángel Correa), apart from seeing whether or not Thomas Partey is at Simeone's disposal for Thursday's clash, in his process recovery from a muscle injury. He already accumulates three weeks off due to that ailment, suffered on July 19 before Real Sociedad.
The rest of the headlines against Leipzig are apparently already fixed: goalkeeper Jan Oblak; the centrals Stefan Savic and José María Giménez; left back Renan Lodi; the media Koke Resurrección and Saúl Ñíguez; winger Yannick Carrasco; and forwards Marcos Llorente and Diego Costa, with a pending revenge with the Champions League.