Before Marcos Llorente, they were: Felipe and Correa, the most outstanding footballers of Atlético preparón. The first, a real signing, the second, almost, since if he stayed on the rojiblanca squad last summer it was because Milan did not reach the 50 million that Atlético requested for the transfer of the Argentine. That no exit was one of his best signings. Because, if Correa started the last preseason always being part of the substitutes team, in this he has been a fundamental soccer player for Simeone. When LaLiga has finished, he has played more than 60% of the minutes (2,819 in total) being part of the starting lineup 58% of the time. The step forward that Simeone always asked of him, he had taken. Seven goals, eight assists, before the break was key. After, his physicist accused confinement. With less spark and less determination, other footballers such as Carrasco, Llorente himself or Vitolo in the end took his place.
Felipe also lost it during confinement. The great signing of the rojiblanca season, the central defender who came to take the place of a Giménez, bigger words, again harassed by injuries before the break due to COVID-19. It took him a while to get into Cholo's plans (one minute in Atlético's first five games this season) but once he did, nobody took him out. Four months it took him to sit, 21 games in a row, and when he did it was due to injury, but, As in the case of Correa, he was a footballer who accused the confinement a lot.
Professor Ortega himself explained it in an interview on Esporte Interactivo before starting the eleven-game mini season that came after the break. “Felipe has a very special physique. Genetically it is something else. It costs you the adaptation. He is a physicist who, after confinement, is costing him “. And not only that, it is that when he returned to training, he was injured. He was down five games, two to zero and only started in three. The good news for Cholo is that two of them were the last two that Atlético (Getafe and Real Sociedad) played with good feelings. Now he faces this new break three weeks before the Champions League with that goal: to come back strong, like before the break, like Correa. Your team and your coach need it for the Champions League,