From Bucharest's disgust to the challenge: the feat that Atlético lacks

After the blow in Bucharest, it's time to look for reasons for optimism. Atlético's players came out hurt from 0-1 against Chelsea, but the first public messages were not those of a sunken and desperate team. “Always we usually get up and we'll get up”Launched Koke hopefully. The rojiblancos bet hard on the trick of not fitting in and Giroud's Chilean changes the plan: in London it is only worth winning. It's difficult, but you don't need a triumph on the edge of the impossible. The 0-1 sends them to extra time and any other victory gives the pass. Of course, Atleti plays against Chelsea and against history: It has never happened before in Europe after losing the first leg at home. Another great challenge for Simeone and his family.

Oblak, another of the captains, gives one of the keys to recovering: “It is time to show that we are a strong and united team. This group is. We are colleagues who support each other, we do not reproach and we are going to get out of this”. The team is affected by the streak of results (a win in five games), but without falling into alarmism. “We are the same ones who achieved good streaks before”, defends Koke.

The visit to Villarreal (Sunday, 9:00 pm) will be important to dispel doubts in the dressing room and in the environment. The timing is complicated, but there are positives to draw of all the encounters. “Now you have to seek tranquility to live with the team moment“, Simeone explained looking to the future, betting on” working, working and working “to celebrate triumphs again and insisting again and again that he trusts his people.

To recover troops: Trippier, Carrasco, Herrera …

Because another key to the Stamford Bridge appointment (March 17, three weeks left) will be how the squad is at that time. The pothole has coincided with a succession of casualties due to injuries and coronavirus that have the team depleted. The rumor in the red and white house is that with Trippier, Carrasco and Giménez this will be something else. Not only because of what they can contribute, but because their presence also allows colleagues like Lemar and Llorente and multiply the variants from the bench.

For all this and, above all, because Atlético is the leader in the League and feels alive in the Champions League, from the locker room they flee from the word crisis. Yes we have to improve, we do have to correct, but relying on the base that has worked so well until this dark gray February. “I have seen a changing room convinced to improve”Oblak confessed after the 0-1. The conspiracy of the comeback began already in Bucharest. But first, of course, Villarreal.