Atlético took the spoils of Martínez Valero and he made sure to be the leader of a game that seems capital at the Camp Nou against Barcelona. It was not a brilliant victory, as the second half clouded the good mattress start and the penalty thrown at the post by Fidel was a relief after playing with fire again.
Perhaps the result of the pressure to win, Atlético is suffering a lot in the last minutes of the game when the result is tight, and In this second round he has already seen how five points have escaped after the 85th minute, which could have been more if Oblak had not repelled Joselu's penalty in the 86th minute or if Fidel had crashed into the wood in the 89th minute. But, after the great scare and the bad feelings of the second part, Simeone indicated that he prefers to stay with the positive, and the best thing for Atlético was to win an essential match in their aspirations for LaLiga.
The rojiblanco team played their second of the three consecutive games they face as a visitor in this phase of the season. He won again away from the Wanda Metropolitano more than two months later (he had not done it since February 28), left a clean sheet and made sure to be one more day in the first place, when there are only four games left to play. A clean sheet that, in the individual section, seats Oblak in the first place for Zamora. In defense he suffered little until the final minutes, where the worst feeling was that from minute 60 the team sank into its area without the rival being boxing in, something that with such a short result was about to be a fatal error.
But there is one less game left in this agonizing League that is getting so long. Now, visit the Camp Nou after Luis Suárez has regained his rhythm, playing 81 minutes in his first start after the injury, where the VAR stopped him from scoring again, Lemar was fine in the 57 minutes he played, Llorente scored a new goal (and they are 12 in the league), Carrasco was again decisive in the rival area and Hermoso avoided the yellow that would have separated him from playing against Barcelona. And the alternative in the center of the field was for a Kondogbia that came out fully reinforced and with words of praise from the Cholo for his work. The only bad news in the squad was the replacement of Giménez with discomfort, we will have to know the extent of his ailments with the Camp Nou just around the corner.
In such a tight League, where any rival is a toothache, there is a desperate race for the title and the fundamental thing is to win, the only thing that matters already in the final sprint. And Atlético did it again to have a calmer week in order to prepare a challenge that has eluded him for 15 years, since he has not won at the Camp Nou since 2006. A priori it will arrive with all its suitable offensive arsenal, with many variants above and plugged players, since, if Koke, Llorente, Carrasco and Suárez seem untouchable, Lemar, Correa, João Félix, Kondogbia, Herrera, Saúl or Torreira fight for two holes in the offensive section.
Back, if the physical allows it to Giménez and with Lodi injured, there are not many doubts in a line formed by Trippier, Savic, Giménez and Hermoso, with the Madrilenian being able to fall to the side or more fixed as third center. There are three exciting weeks of competition left and with the victory in Elche, Atlético is still the only one who depends on himself to lift the title. Four victories from achieving LaLiga, but aware that only the next game matters and it is not just any one, Barcelona awaits the leader.