Llorente and his curse

Marcos Llorente is afraid of getting lost on one of those trips in which Saúl turned gray forever. The trips from the band to the full-back, the trips from the central midfielder to the defence. In addition to the goals on the big nights, the goals when they were most needed, of which Saúl made a mark, what defined the youth squad was his versatility, his ability to play wherever he went: in the center of defense, on the wing , in the midfield, on the left side. His games in last place, and his training, as he himself recognized, were what pushed him to pack his suitcase for London. Those parties that fell on him like a fate, like a penance, his virtue turned into a prison. Months later, another rojiblanco footballer is found between the same bars: Llorente.

Because Marcos Llorente plays wherever they put him, and his coach has been transferred to him, but he prefers to play where he is worth more, where he adds more, something that has also transferred to Cholo. And that place is not the right side but several steps forward, as a right or extreme interior. That place where the ’14’ was decisive last season, 2020-21, in which he achieved his best numbers in his career (13 goals, 12 assists). The same numbers that a year later also speak, from their statistical coldness, meridians: zero goals, three assists.

Son Wass is not Vrsaljko

Sixth player in minutes for Cholo this season, fifth from the field (2,136′), his position always dances. Eight games in midfield, eight as inside right, two as attacking midfielder, nine where he likes it least, where football condemns him the most, turns off his virtues the most, on the right side. It is a sentence from which, it seems, he cannot escape. Because Simeone many times in the season has not had another. Trippier’s injury when he was still in the squad, Llorente on the right of the rear. Because Simeone even if he wants to, against Cádiz, he has no other choice. It does not have right sides. Wass, signed in the winter to take the place of the Englishman, signed by Newcastle, was injured in the first game (first game as a starter, the Camp Nou). Because Vrsaljko, in an aerial duel, was injured in the last one.