Old Trafford asks for another Atleti

He won and that was the best news for Atleti. That he won a game that, at another time this season, he would have lost. That he won before traveling to Manchester but he won that way. Bronco, rough, not very fluid. Sergio had gone out looking for tickles from the beginning. Without changing the scheme or the men who had beaten Rayo. 4-4-2 and look for Atleti by high, there where he suffers so much. His first three moves were a declaration of intent, and a carbon copy: Luis Hernández taking out the Gámez style, in a catapult, balls flying into the small area. Fiuuu, fiuuu. On the fourth, Atleti stood for the first time in the Cádiz area to convert the final rain that fell incessantly on the players, the field, into a tailwind. Ledesma helped, of course, he became a Donnarumma. Mess with the feet and the ball given to João who did not forgive. Tape and shot to the short post, ball in the net. In LaLiga 14 Simeone has found a luxury can opener in his boot, the Portuguese’s boot. Four games in a row with a goal as soon as the clock started rolling.

Cádiz did not feel the blow. Atlético, with a full stomach, was imposing its rhythm, but it got tangled up. Herrera ordered less than on other nights. De Paul lived more than his own party within the party with Alcaraz, fray to fray, let the match. Koke had returned inoperative. The mud in the center expanded as if in concentric circles. The game turned into long balls from Oblak and to see who fell for it. Which, by the way, he used to wear yellow.

Cádiz was giving warnings, blows. The first was a shot outside Pacha after Negredo’s dizzying run. Atlético had returned to the days before their League of 14. Tangled, without fluidity, steps backwards. Griezmann was an island broken off from João and the others, Llorente with the motorcycle seized on the side, Carrasco too fast. He did not go back to the Ledesma area to see if, again, his legs were entangled. The ball belonged to Cádiz. long possessions. The intention. The Uy. Negredo with a left foot, Sobrino after stealing Oblak’s bag and ball.

Atlético were nerves. That Atleti with what he was wearing, the infirmary full and Reinildo playing as if there were no cards in football. And, of course, in one of those, he went with both feet in front to take the ball from Alcaraz and the red one fell on his head from the referee’s pocket. A call from González González from the VAR to the ear of González Fuertes made it yellow, he had touched the ball. Cholo’s sigh of relief did not last long. Cádiz went to rest with a balanced score. So much knocking on Oblak’s doors that in the end he opened them. High, of course. Negredo’s header after Espino’s cross.

Simeone was a man with slumped shoulders under his coat, on the bench, when the game returned from rest. She had made a difficult decision. A rojiblanco had stayed in the shower for Lodi to enter: Koke, his captain. The change moved the positions on the grass: Carrasco lane on the right and Llorente in the middle. The rojiblancos had more of the ball, but at times, in waves. And Cádiz had taken advantage of the rain to root her feet strongly in the Metropolitan. Well planted and without suffering. Five minutes later he had annulled Cholo’s slate movement, who had to look for another push on the bench: Correa, who worked to arrive and arrived, and Suárez. Llorente went back. Negredo was a headache. The Atleti, a chirigota.

Serrano’s expulsion

But eight minutes later, those men had changed everything.. Correa, Llorente and Suarez. Wall between the first two and low center of the second. Suárez lets her pass for Correa’s shot. Horrible Ledesma leaves the ball in the area for a red-and-white player to appear and kick it as it arrives. With the boot, with the soul. From Paul. 2-1 and suffer. Because Cádiz kept scratching high. And this Oblak is no longer Oblak but a much more insecure and Dantesque goalkeeper. Giménez headed a ball down the line before landing with one hand behind on the grass. He lasted a few minutes and left. Now what fell on Cholo was another part of wounds. Lodi was attended to on the sideline after a tackle on Akapo’s ankle while Javi Serrano left after a tackle on Alex. Direct red. And this time the VAR did not call, although it was less red than the previous one: strong yes, but not with the studs. The game had become the show of González Fuertes, who shot at the benches with direct reds and filled the air with long knives. Simeone raised his arms in a grinder, asking for pressure, Cádiz died on their feet in a game that they did not deserve to lose but in which Atleti imposed their law. Victory that fills before Manchester but leaves doubts.