TAB j20-atletico-rayo-liga23/24 Chronicle 4 The cold returns to the capital’s nights and, no matter how brave it is, the Metropolitano suffers. The too many empty seats show that going to a League game at nine at night on a wintery Wednesday is an act of heroic love. A certain reluctance surrounds this Atlético de Madrid-Rayo Vallecano; What’s more, Diego Pablo Simeone fattens it up with his football proposal full of substitutes and rookies. The imminence of Sunday’s derby at the Bernabéu raises concerns in the Argentine, who keeps gems like Antoine Griezmann, Samuel Lino and Captain Koke under lock and key. Under the frozen atmosphere, in every sense of the definition, it is the time for Rodrigo Riquelme, Marcos Llorente or Ángel Correa to shine again – in their 400th red-and-white match – on a day in which the Atlético victory is expected to be easy. Atlético de Madrid 2-1 Rayo Vallecano Matchday 20 of LaLiga Atlético de Madrid: Oblak; Llorente (De Paul, min.58), Witsel, Hermoso, Reinildo, Riquelme (Lino, min.58); Barrios, Vermeeren (Molina, min.46), Saúl (Koke, min.69); Correa (Griezmann, min.58) and Memphis. Rayo Vallecano: Dimitrievski; Ratiu (Balliu, min.64), Lejeune, Aridane, Espino; Isi Palazón (De Frutos, min.76), Kike Pérez (Crespo, min.64), Valentín, Chavarría; Álvaro García (Trejo, min.76) and Camello (Falcao, min.83). Goals: 1-0, min.35: Reinildo. 1-1, min.42: Álvaro García. 2-1, min.90: Memphis. Referee: Soto Grado (C.Riojano). He cautioned Kike Pérez (min.38), Isi Palazón (min.60) and Chavarría (min.90 + 3) with a yellow card at Rayo Vallecano. However, unlike the recent match in this same place against Valencia where local bravery predominated, Atlético is an apathetic team at the beginning; a group of men who wait for victory to fall due to inertia and who, of course, do not take long to know that they are wrong. It is Rayo who takes the match seriously, who dominates the ball thanks to the good judgment of Óscar Valentín and Isi Palazón, who tries to bring some joy to a tedious soccer match. Faced with the general laziness in the eleven of those in red and white, Riquelme, through his innate capacity for overflow, and Pablo Barrios, with his increasingly notable class, perhaps worthy of marking an era at Atlético, are the only ones that show a crazy desire to please the staff. What’s more, from a reverse of sublime beauty from the latter on Kike Pérez, and a subsequent pass into the hole to Correa, the first relevant action of the match was born, but the Rosario striker, after dodging Dimitrievski, ran into Lejeune’s courage in goal mouth. The minutes pass, boredom grows and those three points that seemed irrefutable begin to be in danger. However, after half an hour of play, Atlético receives a divine reward. In a lateral free kick wonderfully taken by the persuasive Riquelme, Reinildo rises powerfully, takes a meter in the jump to Pérez and Lejeune at the far post and, with a header, sends the ball into the back of the Rayista net. The Mozambican celebrates with passion: no wonder, it is his first goal with the Madrid club. Desktop Code Image for mobile, amp and app Mobile code AMP Code APP Code Atlético breathes in the face of a nice circumstance that is much more random than meritorious, but it seems not to learn from its fortune and, of course, Rayo gets on his hump, even ignores it , and tied the game with a nice goal from Álvaro García just before half-time. The cross shot, the culmination of a precise play intertwined between Isi and Chavarría, is worthy of belonging to a museum. Desktop Code Image for mobile, amp and app Mobile code AMP code APP code The shy debutant Vermeeren leaves the green when he returns from the locker room (Molina enters, Llorente goes to the middle) and, for some unknown reason, Simeone decides to continue trusting Saúl, that he has gotten worse with every play he has participated in (in fact, he is whistled by the majority of the stadium when Koke takes over with 20 minutes left). Barely an hour into the game and, despite the fact that Griezmann, De Paul and Lino are already on the pitch, Atlético shows no signs of life. He does not bother Francisco’s high defensive line, he does not propose anything beyond sterile passes in his own field, he does not find the way to hurt a Rayo who, in addition, steps dangerously and assiduously into Oblak’s area – again the scorer Álvaro García fails the impossible in the one-on-one against the Slovenian goalkeeper. In this dark panorama, once again finding an oasis in the middle of the desert, it is Barrios’ creativity that alters the plain. The youth player invents a surgical pass, unbalances the tight visiting defense and leaves Depay alone, who does not fail against Dimitrievski. However, the VAR annuls it due to a tight, and ridiculous, offside. Desktop Code Image for mobile, amp and app Mobile code AMP Code APP Code The clock is ticking and, when desperation is the protagonist of red and white football, this time yes, Memphis finishes a cross from Griezmann and, with the invaluable help of Rayo’s Macedonian goalkeeper, In extra time, the Dutchman confirms the local victory; a triumph that he never deserved.
2024-01-31 22:14:58
#Atlético #deserves #Rayo
