Raced in a triple draw in group B that harmed it, in debatable arbitration decisions and even in bad fortune at times, the Atlético de Madrid It leaves the Club World Cup outside the qualifiers, distant from the economic and sports objectives that was marked, beyond an obvious disappointment.
The Athletic group phase has not passed, which proposed at least going to the round of 16 or beyond, to the rooms, to the semifinals, even to the final, depending on the voice that dictates the challenge, conditioned from the first day by the 4-0 against the Saint Germain’s parcelof which he tried to overcome with two wins that were not enough.
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Sports reverse is indisputable. Without titles either in LaLiga or in the Champions League or in the Copa del Rey in this season, discarded from all in early April among all the expectations it generated until then, Atlético grabbed his illusions to the attractive and novel World Cup in the United States. An incentive for the recomposition, the reaction and the claim to the eyes of the whole world that has not really been such.
In the most complex group, with the current winners of the Champions League and the Copa LibertadoresAtlético failed from the first plan against Paris Saint Germain, when everything was tested during the preparation was nothing about the grass of the Rose Bowl, at the mercy of the ability of Vitin, God’s Desire, Blessed and company.
Neither pressed or handled the ball nor recovered the loss with the speed and intensity he rehearsed, nor presented the expected ambition throughout the first part, as he had designed on the cloth of the training. And he fit two goals. His improvement in the second also had no effect: two more goals after the expulsion for double yellow card of Clement Lengletunder the heat and between the effort of that June 15 in Pasadena.
A 2-0 with the PSG also eliminated it
“The Paris game has penalized us a lot, playing with one less, in the end with the heat it made, being the first game … In the end, we were very tired, we left many spaces and Paris made us goals,” he said Marcos Llorentehold the three games, like the goalkeeper Jan Oblak, The defenses Robin Le Normand and Javi Galán, The media Pablo Barrios and Rodrigo de Paul, The end Giuliano Simeone and the striker Julián Alvarez. Antoine Griezmann, Samuel Lino, Koke Resurrection, José María Giménez and Conor Gallagher started one. Clement Lenglet and Alexander Sorgeh came out of two.
The Atlético de Madrid goalkeeper spoke after the match against Botafogo
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The 4-0 was the beginning of the end for Atlético, But, really, without those two final goals, I would also be eliminated from the eighths with the same triple draw as group B.
Without those two goals against, to which several of their players appealed after the elimination, their goal difference would have been -1. Nor would it have served him: the Botafogo has 0 and the PSG + 1. No one in the tournament will stay out with 6 points except Atlético, But a simple 2-0 would have been enough with the winner of the ‘Champions’ on the first date of the competition.
The winner later before the Seattle Sounders with two unexpected scorers (Pablo Barrioswith a double; Axel Witselwith somewhat) and winner for the insufficient 1-0 against the Botafogo, with the Diana of Antoine Griezmann (reunited with the goal after a drought of 18 games without beating the rival goal, since last February 25), Atlético de Simeone already exceeds four years, since May 22, 2021, without being a champion.
De Paul, Julián, Sorloth
It was not the Atlético tournament as a collective, but not individually of many of its players. And three keys: RODRIGO DE PAULInspiration in an important part of this course, but now off, when the Club World Cup appeared; Julián Alvarez and Alexander Sorgehits top scorers (29 and 24 goals throughout the course before the Club World Cup, respectively), which leave the competition without stuck and without goals.
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“In this tournament they have not been fortunate to be able to make a goal, but we are talking about the two who have put more goals all year in the team, so little can be reproached, because they are two pieces of players,” warned the midfielder Pablo Barrios, that the tournament ends as the unexpected top scorer, with two goals. The other two were from a central, Axel Witsel, usual alternate, and Antoine Griezmann.
That goal breaks an unprecedented drought in the French attacker’s team, but neither does the moment he has lived since last January, with all the importance and dependence that Atlético has always had. Two goals has scored Griezmann in the last 24 games. Chosen for the eleven against Paris Saint Germain, it is one of Simeone’s most discussed decisions in this Club World Cup.
“We are close, but we need a little more”
The Argentine coach also remains in the focus, for the approach to the PSG, in the end the key party that failed to address either in the staging or in development or in the outcome. The meeting that really eliminated him, but not for the two final goals, but for the four in total. “We couldn’t manage that game ending well with a less man”, The coach valued after 1-0 to Botafogo when he would digest the elimination on Monday.
The Atlético coach spoke after the match against Botafogo.
“The frustration of not being able to pass. Making six points in the group was not bad, but in the end he ended up condemning the game with Paris, where any decision (in reference to the referee Istvan Kovacswith a goal annulled with 2-1 on the scoreboard, with the expulsion of Lengletwith the claim of a red to Nuno Mendes …) he always harmed us, ”said the Argentine coach in statements to ‘DAZN’.
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“In this Monday’s game I think that, in the first half, we had situations to be able to advance. He had the prison that reviewed a previous play so as not to collect the penalty that was … and more of the same. Tranquility. We have more than clear what we have to improve and all this helps us to improve ”, Simeone insisted.
“We did the same points as the champion of the ‘Champions’ and that the champion of the Libertadores and we were left out. We are close, but we need a little more”, Simeone said again in a repeated idea in recent times. Perhaps a message for the new course, for investment in new reinforcements, to provide the most power team (Álex Baena, Jonnhy Cardoso…) For the immediate future.
Less than half the Champions League income
He already focuses on the new season, at the beginning of LaLiga EA Sports in mid -August, to the Champions League, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup. The four fronts of Atlético 2025-26. The remodeling of the template will include at least five or six signings, still pending to be completed; There are already confirmed outputs (Axel Witsel, Reinildo Mandava and César Azpilicueta, finally contract) and others that will come (Ángel Correa, Rodrigo Riquelme…).
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To the Club World Cup, economically, for direct income from sports incentives, the Atlético that expected: 22.6 million euros, In the absence of the official figures of the competition, for its initial income for the participation in the tournament and its two triumphs in the group stage. The qualifiers multiplied the awards increasingly and evident.
Comparatively, in the last edition of the Champions League, in the absence of accounting for the section that links the factors of the television market and the UEFA coefficient, Atlético achieved 53.5 million euros only for its sports performancewhich concluded in the controversial penalty shootout of the qualifier of the round of 16 against Real Madrid. It is more than double than now in the World Cup.
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