In fact, Atlético has been struggling in the Champions League since 2018, after four fantastic seasons in which they always stumbled on the same stone. That year they already fell in the group stage, although it was more than compensated winning that Europa League that the new rich now despise (and from which this time it could also be left out), to get into a later dynamic of elimination
two-legged events in which that precovid round with Liverpool was hardly a wonderful exception to the rule. But the problem is not
continent
, but of
content
. Beyond the European, the team stayed somewhere along the way during the last month of February. With the advantage acquired he gave him to win the League (six months have passed nothing more, six months have passed no less), but everything has been different since then. In fact, it should be remembered that both Barcelona and Real Madrid had and wasted an opportunity to rise to the leadership and that
Atlético himself firmly endured the final pull to certify four victories and a draw (that of the Camp Nou) in the last five games, so agonizing, yes, that their fans left leaving a year of life (at least) in each one of them
. And so they have remained. Almost half of the disputed this course, eight of 18, have been resolved in favor or against after the 85th minute. Because the team is a roulette in which sometimes the red comes out (and everything seems phenomenal), but in which sometimes black comes out (and everything seems tragic).
Why did you get here? Why is it played so badly when everything indicated that it would be played better than ever? Why does Simeone seem overwhelmed by events?
It is so evident that there is no way to justify it, in what amounts to a modern version of that “I think it’s very clear; hang me if I understand” by Groucho: Because none of the ones that worked so well
works now
(Oblak included). Because the
incorporations
They have not offered what was expected of them (and there the focus is usually on Griezmann, but, no matter how many sponsors they come out, De Paul has barely made an outstanding match with the rojiblanca, that of Mestalla, without approaching the performance he offers with Argentina in the stops and actually getting worse right after them). Because
defends horrible
(each lateral center is a drama). Because the rival already always applies at least with the same
intensity
. Because the
inability to get the ball played
with a certain cleanliness it is evident (Koke’s condition is alarming and everything indicates that, among other things, he has been paying for the excesses of the past campaign). Because the
board
it has disappeared. Because the only one who exhibits a goal plays by team inertia
too far from goal
. Because the
changes
they tend to harm more than benefit … Everything serves as an explanation, but precisely for that reason
nothing explains enough
. Some time ago, what was necessary about the
sports planning
(short template, shortcomings at the back, excesses at the front) and on the
physical training
(injuries, relapses, incapacity for pressure, nostalgia for the aforementioned intensity …), as well as those responsible for both plots. El Cholo accepts them as good, so El Cholo is also responsible. Another difference from last season is the public. That there is, come on.
And it is not about blaming the fan, it was only missing, but about assessing the influence that their presence can have on certain players
. One remembers the famous goal against Osasuna on the horn and feeds serious doubts regarding the possibility of having achieved it in the current circumstances, with the stands as full as it is desperate: in that play there were several players handling themselves with a cold blood that was inappropriate for the moment. it was lived, because with the League escaping between the fingers Koke moved the ball, Suárez opened the band, Trippier enabled in short, Carrasco looked for the heart of the area and the aforementioned Suárez finished off the cage … the personality, the character, the Hierarchy or whatever the hell we want to call it doesn’t seem like the strong suit of this group either when it feels tight. And it must be agreed, almost finally, that UEFA puts the bullet where it has put its eye whenever Atlético is involved: any other season, with exactly the same disaster in the backpack, a victory in Porto would be worth to certify the classification without any difference, but e
This course, just this course, look at you, the rule of goals away from home had to be changed
. In those we are: in that everything points to the chronicle of a death announced (but postponed at least until December 7) and in that,
whatever happens in the Champions League, we will still have to fight for the League, Cup and Super Cup
. The partials look ugly, really, but for the final evaluation there is still time. In addition, you can always be worse: imagine for example that, with the one that is falling, Atlético has to
Gil Manzano
in the next game of the domestic championship … oh, wait! PS: Liverpool, who will play absolutely nothing against Milan, absolutely nothing was played against Porto. As the thief believes that they are all of his condition, there were already those who suspected Klopp and his boys, who were very concerned about what they will say they dispatched the Portuguese squad.
It is usually better to think of one’s own glory rather than the miseries of others
.
