No Strap, 848 days later

The world has changed a lot since the last time Atlético faced a League match without Ángel Correa. The Argentine is one of the three important casualties that Simeone has to replace in the return of LaLiga against Alavés. Some discomfort in the thigh has left Herrera out of actionwhile Koke and the ’10’ will miss the duel due to suspension.

In the case of Correa, it will be the first of his two forced absences after Munuera Montero showed him a direct red card against Rayo for, according to the minutes, telling him: “Your mother’s shell”. The Argentine has been sanctioned for the duel against Alavés and Mallorca and will miss his first league game from December 6, 2019when he could not be against Villarreal on that occasion due to the accumulation of warnings.

Since then, 848 days have passed and it had always been a resource that Simeone had resorted to. A pandemic devastated that 2019-20 season, in which Correa ended up participating in the last 21 league games. The coronavirus left him out of the Champions League quarterfinals against Leipzig, his last low game so far. Correa was present in all 48 Atlético games last season, a key player in the title with an impressive end to the season. And this campaign he had participated in the 40 rojiblancos matches. Top scorer (12) and team assistant (6) stops a streak of 89 games in a row having minutes in the League.