Real Sociedad jumped into the game chasing that chair that had been taking away throughout the afternoon. First Seville, then Madrid, now Atleti looking for the same. His throne. A Real conditioned by casualties and with experiment: Gorosabel left-handed side and Zaldua as winger in drawing 4-3-3. Imanol’s idea lasted five minutes. Atleti had come out with pressure and presence. Not wanting to go tow another day, another game. But it was modifying the Imanol slate, changing five minutes to defense of five, and find seams on Oblak’s gloves, leaking more than Alcatraz this year. Black night.
It all started with João Félix, the gleaming spike of that trident that Simeone took out for the first time this League. The Portuguese, Suárez and Griezmann. He tried a dribble in the center and Guevara stole the ball. In three touches the Real was gone. From Guevara to Silva, from Silva to Merino, from Merino to Isak and from Isak to Sorloth. Very vertical, very fast. With passes that were knives and they left the Norwegian alone before the goalkeeper. Jan came out again with a pale, stony face, like a statue. Sorloth passed him and dialed. So easy. So strangely so easy.
Six minutes had passed only and about Atleti that 0-1 was already flashing on the electronic. But Cholo’s trident neither pricked nor cut. It was blunt. He did not give the Argentine a sad opportunity to put his mouth on. Unable its spikes to escape to that central prison that had sprouted from the Imanol slate after that minute five (Elustondo, Le Normand and Zubeldia). Three center-backs that Simeone could only look at with nostalgia: tonight he had played with two, Felipe and Hermoso, in defense of four, Giménez as the starting reserve. His midfield, the same one that had shone against Liverpool, De Paul-Koke-Lemar, had faded. And disconnected from above. They found no roads that carried Suárez, João and It bites. None of the Cholo men knew, either, how to block the exit of the ball white-blueAnd that the ball started from Remiro’s very foot, in a tireless recital. Not even João, with the flashlight on, was capable of leading his companions out of the labyrinth.
And then, Suarez
The beginning of the second part was a carbon copy. All of the above repeated. A Real that seemed to have showered in oil, so elusive and elusive. And Isak back there, snapping at Oblak. In one he left Silva alone at his feet and stopped the goalkeeper as he is known, San Jan, miracle gloves. In the next, the human Oblak returned, the one with the leaks: Unable to block that foul that, from the front, neither strong nor especially placed, Isak threw at him. “Long live Sweden,” Imanol’s clenched fists seemed to shout.. 0-2.
Then the light. Because talent always finds a loophole. And at halftime Atleti had left a Lemar touched in the shower and went out with Carrasco. And with the Belgian everything has one more speed. The team, the rhythm, the chances. Even João’s flashlight, that footballer for whom football tickets are paid. From his boot sprouted a thread measured, tempered, towards Suarez. The Uruguayan nodded it inspiring and expiring gunpowder to send it where Remiro would not reach. 1-2. Half an hour ahead and Correa already in the field.
The Portuguese had overturned it, tunneling in each of his passes, the booty turned into a brush. Griezmann’s change almost coincided with that play, that of the tie: Cholo sacrificed that spike of his trident when Merino stepped on Suárez’s twin in the air, In the area. Munuera Montero did not see but there was a call from the VARbitrator in his ear. It was a penalty. Suárez tricked Remiro into violently stamping the ball into his net. 2-2.
“The greatness of man consists in that he carries his destiny”, which Milan Kundera wrote. And the fate of the Cholo team is that they never give up. He had already achieved a draw and only sought victory in the remaining 13 minutes, plus five more. With lateral centers and uys of Correa, on Remiro, but without being able to snatch that tie from Imanol who was holding tightly to his chair, to his throne in LaLiga.
Changes
Carrasco (45′, Lemar), Correa (57′, Renan Augusto ), Kondogbia (57 ‘, De Paul), Jon Pacheco (62 ‘, David Silva), Port (63 ‘, Isaac), Beñat Turrientes (63′, Zaldua), Matheus Cunha (72′, Griezmann), Hector Herrera (72 ‘, Mario Hermoso), Januzaj (87 ‘, Ander Guevara), Julen Lobete (88′, Syrloth)
Goals
0-1, 6′: Syrloth, 0-2, 47′: Isaac, 1-2, 60′: Luis Suarez, 2-2, 76′: Luis Suarez
Cards
Referee: José Luis Munuera Montero
VAR Referee: Alejandro José Hernández Hernández
Felipe Monteiro (30 ‘, Yellow) Zaldua (40 ‘, Yellow) Elustondo (67 ‘, Yellow) Merino (75 ‘, Yellow