A tie that knows very little to Atlético

There are draws that taste like victory and others that leave the feeling that they have been lost two points. Of the latter was the one that Atletico took from his visit to Lokomotiv Moscow, after a match in which he made more than enough merits to win a victory that would have put his qualification for the second round of the Champions on track and that could not be for the lack of success, also largely merit of the great game of goalkeeper Guilherme, and by the intervention of the VAR to indicate a penalty for alleged hand of Herrera in the red and white area that almost nobody understood.

Simeone’s team soon came forward, with a header from Giménez that augured a good afternoon, he reacted without barely flipping the local equalizer despite the controversial arbitration decision and was much superior to his rival, especially in a second half in which he bottled the Russians in their own area on the back of the colossal talent of Joao Félix. However, his dominance did not end up finding the prize of the goal. This is football.

Atlético began trying to dominate, while Lokomotiv opted for the counterattack, spirited in quick transitions after recovering the ball and spurred on by the chants of the 8,000 local fans, those that are so much missed in Spain. Despite everything, the Spanish team was not alone, but also supported by a small group of Russian mattress supporters.

Saúl, who returned to eleven after his absence in the last matches due to injury, was the first to test Guilherme, who deflected the rojiblanco left-handed shot as best he could. Just a few minutes later, the Russian-Brazilian goalkeeper could do nothing to Giménez header after Herrera’s precise center. Everything seemed face to face in the Moscow evening-night, but in those the VAR and its diffuse criteria on the hands in the area. Krychowiak crossed and the ball hit Herrera’s body and bounced towards his arm, which did not seem extended in a clear position. The French Bastien reviewed the action on the screen and indicated the penalty, transformed by Anton Miranchuk, the differential player in the Russian team.

Atlético, who continued to command the game, did not accuse too much of the setback, as witnessed by a shot from Long strapI heard a heads up that Luis Suárez could not solve but that was invalidated due to offside. The Uruguayan forward, very active in his usual role as a fighter, reappeared with a very deflected volley to the center of Trippier. The game was on athletic ground, as Simeone’s team insistently prowled the Russian area. He lacked perhaps one more point of success in the last pass to reflect that dominance on the scoreboard, with Joao Félix showing flashes of enormous quality.

Precisely the Portuguese left after the break one of the actions of the game. Full of confidence, he feigned, dribbled and put a measured cross for Luis Suárez’s header. The athletic goal was called but Guilherme found the ball at close range to avoid the 1-2. Much of the mattress game now passes through Joao Félix. Portuguese talent also dared with a shot with a distant effect that forced Guilherme to show off; with a truly luxurious pass for Correa that the Argentine could not control with precision and even with an unbalanced header by the successful Lokomotiv goalkeeper.

The railway team no longer left their own field, subdued by the insistent dominance of Atlético, who found himself again with the stick in a shot from Koke before Suárez holed the ball rejected offside into the net. Simeone redoubled the bet with the entry of Vitolo and Lemar to do wing damage, but the Lokomotiv remembered that it still had something to say in a counter that showed the speed of Zé Luís to create danger to space. It was the only respite for the Russian runner-up, planted in his area which Numantine wall to tie a point That leaves you with options and that in your case, yes, it tastes like victory.