Three goals in his last two gamess show that Antoine Griezmann has landed at Athletic in a good moment of play … and goals. The fact that in the three LaLiga games he played with Barça he will not score it does not prevent the Frenchman, already rojiblanco, from reaching the Metropolitan ready to contribute from the first minute.
And that first minute will be against Espanyol on Sunday. The Catalans will receive Simeone’s men with the option of Griezmann ‘making his debut’ in this second stage in the starting eleven, something that the Argentine will have to decide in the next few days but that is by no means ruled out by several factors.
First, that for the new 8 of Atlético there are no secrets about a team that he left two years ago but knows perfectly. He knows the mechanisms and, most importantly, he knows how to satisfy Cholo’s requests like nobody else when it comes to attacking … and also defending.
Second, by the state of the other offensive players. One, Luis Suárez, will arrive – if he does – very fair to Sunday’s game. The edema in the knee is not fully cured and despite doing part of the training with the group today, he will not risk the 9.
But there is more. And it is that two other forwards that Atlético, Correa and Cunha can use, they will arrive a few hours before their matches with Argentina and Brazil, respectively. Under normal conditions, the 10th would be the game, but it will be necessary to check the state in which it returns after a few intense days.
More alternatives
Simeone, in this new Atlético, has a multitude of emergency options for the attack. You have already used Marcos Llorente placeholder image and it also has footballers like Carrasco or Joao Félix (which will be released this season) so that they work at a spearhead where no one can rule out Griezmann from day one.
