Oblak becomes Oblak again

There was a moment during this season when Atletico needed to score three goals to win games.. Why? Very easy. He always fit at least two. And, of course, that was a hindrance that ran aground the games. Mallorca two goals (1-2), Sevilla two goals (2-1), Madrid two goals (2-0), Granada two goals (2-1)… And Villarreal, Athletic in the Super Cup and so on a long list. Always two goals or more. Always Oblak in that photo, an unknown at Atlético: collecting the ball from his net more times than they had ever seen in all his years as a rojiblanco. The data was devastating: one shot out of two, inside, in a worrying 50%. On February 7, nine days before Atlético-Levante, the Cholo team he had received 54 shots on goal: 30 had been a goal and only 24 had been rejected or stopped by the goal with some gloves that were losing what miracle. But that has changed. The conspiracy behind Levante has also reached the red and white goal. A new Oblak has emerged from it. Or not, rather not. Oblak simply returns to being the same as always.

Since that game, the Slovenian has conceded only three goals in seven games. The account @atletico_stats, which analyzes the rojiblanco team from the data, goes further: since that game against Levante he has already made 25 saves, with four clean sheets, the same as in the previous 23 games. Artificial Intelligence (AI) also portrays its improvement. On February 12, in the match against Getafe that Atleti won 4-3 with a comeback, Olocip reveals, international company pioneer in the development and implementation of AI, recorded its lowest form peak. And, since then, that curve rises until it reaches the highest levels of the goalkeeper in the season, with the game against Rayo as the highest.

Gimenez’s words

The arrival of Reinildo, a rock, the return of the Giménez-Savic couple, may have also influenced that security that the Slovenian shows again under sticks. In 2018, the Uruguayan center-back, in fact, acknowledged in an interview with AS the security that having a goalkeeper behind him like Oblak gave to all his actions, before a match against Barça. “That transmits a calmness. Look, the other day against Leganés I told him that there was a ball that I saw come out and I said it’s already a goal. I didn’t turn around because of that. And he goes and takes it out! I do not know how. That tells me that I am a goalkeeper of another level. It’s extra peace of mind“Said the Uruguayan to Jorge García’s question (“He talks about Ter Stegen, but having Oblak behind him is not bad at all…”). That Oblak who has returned. Not to meet that challenge with which he started this 2021-22 season, trying to be the first goalkeeper in LaLiga with six Zamoras (it has five, like Ramallets and Valdés). At the moment it occupies the fifth place, with a coefficient of 1.24 stops. Courtois’ 0.75, the first, is unattainable. But that is no longer the challenge. Now it’s another: raise their miracle gloves like a red light before their rivals. As usual. As in all his years at Atlético. With the miracle made in San Jan. Guardiola knows it well.