The resurrection of Koke. The Atlético captain has recovered his level of play and It is one of the reasons why the Madrid team has shown a good line of results in recent years matches. Koke was a substitute against Lokomotiv, since Simeone decided to give him rest in the first half. He came out after the break and offered a great performance. Koke gave 46 passes in the middle of the game and had a good connection with João Félix, who was the player he looked for the most. The midfielder gave the Portuguese ten passes while the forward gave eight to his teammate. If the two connect, Atlético's chances of success are great.
Koke, 28, is Atlético's great benchmark in midfield. He is the captain of the team and a player who knows perfectly all the gears of the team. It has cost him to start the season, although in recent matches he has been reaching his best performance. Juice every minute against Celta, Betis and Osasuna. Atlético had very good minutes in the second half against the Verdiblanco team and the Navarrese team. Against Salzburg he also played the whole game and in Moscow he did it for forty-five minutes. Koke has increased as the matches have progressed and Atlético has improved match by match.
Atlético is also changing its style of play. Simeone put Koke in Moscow with Herrera in the double pivot, with Correa, Llorente, João Félix and Luis Suárez in offensive roles. Koke has been seen more in contact with the ball, playing on the inside, trying to lead the rojiblancos attacks. We will see what happens in the next matches, since Cholo has already recovered Saúl and he also has Torreira and Kondogbia to play in the double pivot.
Koke has 466 official meetings with Atlético. He has scored 45 goals and has won seven rojiblanco titles: a League, a Cup, a Spanish Super Cup, two Europa League and two European Super Cups. It occupies the fourth place in the historical ranking of players with more games in the Madrid club. He will soon catch up with Collar, who has played 470 games. And this season, if he does not have any serious injury, he can also overcome Tomás Reñones, who played 483 official games with the Atlético jersey. Adelardo, with 553, is still a bit far behind.
Atlético plays this Saturday (9:00 p.m.) against Cádiz and Koke has many options to start as a starter. If the rojiblanco team wins it will continue in the privileged positions of the classification. And with the Madrilenian leading Simeone's team.