Llorente is already an Atleti legend

Marcos Llorente has become, at 26, an Atlético legend. The great-nephew of Paco Gento, the grandson of Ramón Grosso, the son of Paco Llorente who did not have to disdain his origins, Madrid, to its roots, to conquer a stand and colors that were rivals in his childhood, in his first years of football, when he grew up in Valdebebas, watching the Bernabéu. But the summer of 2019, his lack of minutes with Zidane in the Real Madrid first team and a call from Cholo led him to Atlético. It took time to settle, it took a long time. A red in that preseason, against Chivas, when it seemed that he would be the undisputed starter, Rodrigo had left for City a year after returning to Atleti, He had Gabi’s ’14’ on his back, he sentenced him to the bench, to the restart. In December of that 2019, it accumulated 320 minutes out of 2,160 possible, it was the meat of memes, the frustrated trip, changing the origins for the usual rival for nothing. Before March 11, 2020, he had played 20 games, 687 minutes, only four full games.

But then that March 11, 2020 arrived, before the world changed forever.

Yours did it that night. Atlético travels to Anfield, is measured against the bogeyman of Europe, the current champion, Klopp’s Liverpool. He does so feeling a slight advantage in his pocket, Saúl’s goal in the first leg, at the Metropolitano, 1-0, which red they equalize before halftime and spray at the start of extra time. But, then, that man who had started in 55 ‘for Diego Costa ceases to be a midfielder, then, that man who had started in the 55th minute for Diego Costa runs like a striker to deposit the ball into the net with a right hand. Goals are worth double away. Atleti is once again the quarterfinal team. And that man who had started at 55 ‘for Diego Costa, Llorente, sent another right hand, before the break of that extension. Liverpool already need two. “Welcome Marcos, to history,” shouts the shield on his chest.

The one after Anfield: a giant Llorente

When LaLiga returned, after the worst days of the coronavirus, after confinement, his legs had regained confidence, they were worth more than the 40 million that Atlético had paid for them to Madrid in summer. And Llorente turned them into a motorcycle to crush matches and launch the Cholo team: before the break with doubts about being able to qualify for the next Champions League, be one of the top four; then third, 70 points. And Marcos Llorente’s motorcycle full of gasoline.

His name will be sewn forever to the eleventh League in the Atlético Museum, the second for Cholo as coach, his connection with Trippier on the right wing, his double figures, 13 goals, 12 assists. And the end of the season 18 games after stamping his name on a plaque, 18 games out of 100 that opens the door to that title: his name on the Paseo de Leyendas at the foot of the Metropolitan. A muscle injury prevented him from doing so before the end of 2021. He achieved it, in the Cup, against Rayo Majadahonda, his 100th match, a 0-5 win which is a step forward in a competition that had been choking Cholo for three years (Girona, Cultu, Cornellà). At the end, a message on his Twitter summed up his emotions at the number, the plaque. “When I arrived at Atleti I was thinking about dreams, aspirations and goals. Today are realities, triumphs and successes. Reaching 100 games with the red-and-white shirt is a lot, but much more is everything that you make me feel and live every time I jump onto the pitch. Thank you very much to all of you who are part of the journey, “he wrote, in two tweets. To sign with a “we are going for many, many more” that sounds very serious. Look who has run in these hundred games. And the deposit of his legs continues to the top. Those of the boy from the Bernabéu who became a legend of the Metropolitan.