Marcos Llorente is an unknown. The hero of Anfield, the decisive footballer last season, does not finish starting this one. And that his motorcycle is still there, they are his legs, but although he tries everything, nothing seems to come out. It’s in the numbers, something so simple that, sometimes, it sums up everything: zero goals. Zero in the Champions League, zero in the Cup, zero in the League. The last one is the most striking. Because last season in which Atlético was proclaimed champion of the League, Llorente was fundamental. double figures. Twelve goals, eleven assists. One of the men in the competition. This 2020-21 has given two assists in the League and one in the Cup, the rest to zero. And the team accuses him. Against City he needs the Anfield hero back.
The loss first and the final foul after Trippier have condemned the ’14’ to a position, that of the right back, in which his qualities are diluted. He doesn’t reach the bottom line as much, his bike catches the flu, lost, perhaps, on one of those trips that turned Saúl off, from defense to midfield. Of the 33 games he has played this season, Llorente has played 12 as inside right, the place where he feels most comfortable, where he shines and decides the most, 11 as a midfielder, one as a pivot and nine as a winger. It was precisely at Anfield, in that round of the 2019-20 Champions League round of 16, when Llorente exploded as a superlative footballer. So his place in the eleven was not safe, so he came in and out, he did not stay, but Atleti signed him as a pivot but in that game Simeone ordered him to take steps forward: and the definitive Llorente sprouted, the one who was not only the hero that night, but also in the ten LaLiga games ‘of confinement’last season, in which Atleti were proclaimed champions.
Doubts against City
His position in the second leg against City is unknown. If in the right lane, in defense of five that condemns him so much, if in the middle, where a priori, if Atleti plays 5-3-2 he only has three positions. If Herrera returns, if he forces, if he arrives, his place seems non-negotiable, his return to the eleven would give the team the order and rigor that it seems to have lost since he was injured, on April 1, then there would only be two places left. One, it seems clear, would be for Koke. The other is expensive. One of the footballers who aspire is Llorente. That fundamental Llorente that the team needs more than ever. In another great night of Champions. The first quarterfinal at the Metropolitan.