Simeone’s men, five victories in a row, are two points behind second place. Two defenders, Molina and Hermoso, struck in five minutes. Fran García cut back in 84
It has so much to do in football with moods. Installed in the good wave, shot towards the little that remains at stake, Atltico’s 2023 is a stupendous return to his origins when everything, even the essence, seemed to be in doubt. The return to solidity, to reliability, to cholismo. And to the triumphs. No trace of the black clouds. In Vallecas, barely a scratch of sweat after the final goal of fran garcacertified all this for the fifth victory of his run, to get fully close to Real Madrid, to that second place that nothing ago was a chimera. [1-2: Narracin y estadsticas]
It will be the League of what could have been if it had woken up minimally in order. Because Atlético, stripped of ballasts, is a confident group, with hardly any cracks and with the self-confidence to be aware that the goal will come sooner or later, not like before, with that desperate lack of aim. Rayo got mad in five electric minutes in the first half. A counter to teach in schools and a bit of a corner after a clear error of Dimitrievski. Two goals from two defenses, the plettric Nahuel Molina and a beautiful Mario Fully established already in ownership.
The puncture of Real Madrid on Saturday against Villarreal made the derby even more appealing for those of Simeone. And Rayo, a favorable rival for a decade (nine wins, two draws), far from qualifying difficulties, is not exactly riding for its best moment of the course. Without Memphis Depay an y sin Correa due to the death of his mother -to which was the exciting dedication of his teammates’ goals-, Cholo relied on that eleven already built a few days ago, with a defense of five, with Carrasco as a destabilizing lane and By Paul as a novelty in the middle.
There were 20 minutes of local high pressure, with few spaces and a lot of tactics. But everything went up in the air when Isi Palazn kick without toe or force a frontal foul. Then, like a crouching mechanism, Atlético unleashed a five-pass electroshock, with Griezmann as an ideologue since the recovery. Molina culminated in the other end, his first goal with Atltico, showing off that fantastic run on the right wing. Rayo did not have time to assimilate it when Hermoso, in his fourth goal of the course, finished off Carrasco’s corner kick in a small area.
Roja to Lejeune
The local reaction was timid, a cross shot from lvaro garcaan arrival of a gray Ral de Toms… Because Atlético felt more and more secure, sheltered before the historic Jan Oblak -he became the foreigner with the most games in the club’s history- and with the threatening cons. In one of them, already in the second half, Griezmann’s marvelous incident, a grab to Morata When he was about to step on the area, he ended up with the red one The youngVAR through, to end almost any option already from Lightning, brave, yes, until the very final whistle.
Turned towards heroism, towards the impossible comeback, he left so many holes behind that Atlético reveled in the sentencing goal. Morata had it, he had it Lemarhad it Llorente. Always with Griezmann as a great channel. But the third did not arrive. And I know the fright of Fran García, a stupendous left-footed shot out of nowhere, from 30 meters, to grant a few more minutes of emotion, not trouble, since Iraola’s group no longer had the strength for more.
There are 12 games without losing, there were going to be four without conceding a goal. Too late to raise a title, but serve this rojiblanco revival as a lesson. Assailing the second place in the league would be a climax and at the same time a reminder of all the bad things about that beginning, not to be repeated again.
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