Suárez and Oblak safeguard the leader's advantage

The
Atlético de Madrid
mediated, before him Deportivo Alavés, the depth of the wound that has been bleeding him in recent weeks. Laceration that has left you out of the Champions League, without palliative before a Chelsea superior in both games, and that he reduced his advantage by The league to the smallest expression, to just a stumble and little else.

The conclusion is that it does bleed, but this ‘sports death’ that many claim is very much alive. And while his strength lasts, he will fight with all his soul for the jackpot of the season. This second part of the season is being an agony for the leader, each game is a superlative effort, almost improper. But look, the hourglass keeps falling and the Athletic He is still the leader, with a game and a half advantage, which is not little. And he will go to the break in that position, waiting for the two visits to Seville that will mark the destiny of The league.

The rojiblanco team won thanks a little to the usual formula, collective work, solidity, Llorente, Suárez … Trippier. And above all for Oblak when Savic he got his team in trouble for a cursory stupidity! A mixture that has taken him to where he is, a privileged place. But look, the hourglass continues to fall and Atlético continues to lead, with a game and a half advantage, which is not little. And he will go to the stoppage in that position, waiting for the two visits to Seville that will mark the fate of The league.

Simeone all the pressure was put on his back in the preview of the clash against the Vitoria team. That is very good, good psychological detail of the Argentine coach. But at the moment of truth, it is the footballers who will have to measure up from here to the end of the season to re-sign the umpteenth feat of this Athletic or to suffer a new disappointment with historical overtones. Let this slip away League, with the amount of points that came to accumulate advantage …

Of the bad news of the European elimination of the mattress team, the least bad, that he only has an open front to fight for, in which to concentrate all those diminished forces that seem to remain at this point in the season. East Athletic It is not the one at the start of the campaign, that is obvious. That team was splendid physically and decisive in its game. The current one is an anguished fighter on many of the occasions. But keep moving forward with the faith of the convert.

The speed and clairvoyance, the fluidity of this Athletic, It has been reduced over the months. The season weighs heavily and at the decisive moment of it, the mattress team is costing a huge effort every point it adds, but it does it. The good news in this regard is that, in this countdown, the mattress team continues to discount finals and continues to watch everyone from the top.

VOLUNTEER BUT RUNNED

The Alaves came out aggressive and Pellistri He had the first with a shot with the outside that went high. The Athletic responded with a high shot of Lemar. Y Martinez Munuera, which is also usually the protagonist, despite the real protagonists, I reviewed in the VAR, shortly before quarter of an hour, a clamorous hand of Edgar In the area.

The player of the Vitorian box jumped with his arms stretched up and Gimenez He headed a corner kick that hit the visiting player's arm. For the collegiate it was nothing. Some will want to see in that hand of Philip of the derby not whistled as a penalty something similar, but nothing to do. So the Brazilian did not have his arms in an unnatural position. And he didn't even see the ball arrive. In the of EdgarMaybe it came off a bounce, true, but the arms were fully extended.

The referee got rid of him by whistling a debatable previous lack of Gimenez in the jump. What is clear is that as long as there does not seem to be a unanimity of criteria, this type of play will be a raffle and a way for the evil-minded and lovers of conspiracies.

After what could have been but was not, the Alaves he would appear again at the goal of Oblak, after a robbery that ended with a blazing counter that ended with a shot from Joselu that after touching in Savic, he went sticking to the stick.

The Balkan was the protagonist of the next offensive action with a center-kick that almost surprised Pacheco. The Athletic he entered a phase in which he struck and struck, sometimes somewhat run over, in a phase that left a shot of strap that was leaving close, but above all with an action of a Suarez, fed up with living among a multitude of defenses, which ended with a dry, low shot, stuck to the post.

So rare was the first half that the Alaves he was about to finish ahead on the scoreboard with a mattress own goal. An oblique center in which Savic it was trusted and that it ended with a Juanlu that nobody touched until he ended up bouncing off Llorente's legs in the direction of the goal of a Oblak who had been worse placed …

THE ATHLETIC FINDS THE SOLUTION

As soon as the second half started, Atlético found the prize they had been looking for in the first act, somewhat awkwardly. That clairvoyance that he lacked in the first 45 minutes, he found in a great collective play on the right wing, Llorente found a Trippier who put the ball in the heart in the area where Suarez He nodded across to overtake the colchoneros. An energy rush that gave the Athletic to touch the 2-0 with a great shot of Llorente, which in this case did conjure Pacheco.

Suarez Y Llorente, two classics of the rojiblanco team as a classic is already the step backwards that the de Simeone when they get ahead. Y Pellistri Y Joselu they disturbed Oblak, two warnings that woke up a rojiblanco team that was about to get into a great mess.

Savic he put his elbow out for a walk on a ball that he had controlled and Martinez
Munuera, who was crazy about the music, whistled a penalty after seeing the repeated images. Oblak He dressed as a superhero to stop the maximum penalty to Jota Peleteiro. A stop that can be worth a title of League.

(+) See the summary of Atlético de Madrid – Alavés