Kondogbia (28 years old) had not experienced what he did yesterday at the Metropolitano for a month: playing in his place, the pivot. And he shone, he stood out as he had not been able to do so in the three previous games, three rojiblancas defeats, Madrid, Sevilla and Granada, where the lack of rojiblanca solidity was the keynote. He sweeps, but it is not his place. His place is ‘5’ and there, before the Ray, without Koke, positive for COVID, he made a perfect dance partner for Cholo with Rodrigo de Paul in the center. One destroyed and another built. Like Tiago and Gabi. Huge, with a brutal physical display. And with a record.
Because Kondogbia recovered 17 balls against Iraola’s team. A personal record, his best record in a match, as recorded @atleti_stats, and of a footballer in this 2021-22 season, ahead of Guido Rodríguez’s 16, against Villarreal, in October. His position, ahead of the defense, at 4-4-2 prevented Atlético from receiving what has condemned them so much throughout this season, the lateral centers. Oblak was a mere spectator. Trippier, in, perhaps, his last game with the rojiblanca, almost that too. And Giménez, who was returning. And Hermoso, who in his place, left-handed central, left behind the silly mistakes. And Lodi, who, at times, dressed as a Brazilian side to assist Correa in the 2-0. Ahead of them, the tranquility. Kondogbia’s boots, making all the balls that passed him his own.
The lost balance
Attentive to the robbery, De Paul put the flashlight on him at the exit of the ball, Atlético, for the first time in many games, found a balance who had condemned him in the four previous duels, which were nailed, with the word defeat in Cholo’s ten years, never with something like that, four consecutive defeats in the League. Alive in the Champions League, yes, in the second round, too, but after taking the epic in the all or nothing match in Porto, when they faced him last in a group full of roosters in which they only won two duels, that one and that of San Siro (against Milan). A match in which, by the way, Kondogbia also played on his site. Pivot. Yours is one of the names in the buzz at this newly opened winter market. Genoa loves him but yesterday’s game against Rayo shows Cholo a way: he needs his boots to be solid, balanced again, to regain what he lost: victory.