The Portuguese must take advantage of the absence of Luis Suárez to throw the team on his back at the worst moment.
“Many players stayed behind because they had no will. I don’t want that to happen to me”, slid Joao Felix, sitting next to Simeone, hours before the visit to the Chelsea that ended with Atlético eliminated but with the Portuguese highlighted by his coach, little given to praise him since he arrived at the entity 127 million through.
That day at Stamford Bridge Joao was the only ray of light of an Atlético that continues to bleed out in the last two months, where he has said goodbye to the Champions League and has squandered the substantial advantage he had in LaLiga. A margin of error that no longer exists and that turns the match against Betis into a final. He has nine left, but the The first will be at Villamarín and without Luis Suárez and Marcos Llorente.
28 league goals -19 from the Uruguayan, nine from Madrid– that they will have to find a substitute in a squad that is not exactly on goal in recent times. And that is where the ‘Menino de Oro‘, the player destined to lead the team, but who in his two seasons in the entity has sinned so much of irregularity that there are not few critical voices with the huge investment made to replace Griezmann.
To silence the most impatient Joao must turn his words into action at that press conference and begin to show the talent that he did teach at the beginning of the course. His exhibitions against Osasuna, Cádiz or Salzburgo, to name three doublets, raised expectations … before the balloon will deflate as in the first season. Course, yes, where he had the apology for his adaptation period.
EQUALS HIS WORST STREAK AS A PROFESSIONAL
The scenario of necessity, described so far, does not prevent us from reviewing the moment when Joao reaches the final sprint of the season. The 7, in fact, has equaled his worst streak as a professional in the scorer aspect with his rickety two goals (against Valencia and Villarreal) in the last 17 league games.
The same numbers that, curiously, he signed at his start in the Metropolitan. Then Eibar and Mallorca were the rivals he scored, then he stopped the losing streak by scoring four goals in the next four duels (Villarreal, Sevilla and a double against Osasuna after confinement). A sequence that the rojiblancos need now like eating if they do not want to see how LaLiga escapes them.
A WICKED ANKLE
Joao, who continues his recovery process after returning injured from the international break, will have no problem being available and one hundred percent against Betis. In fact, his return to the group is imminent and he hastens the recovery of a blow to the ankle that prevented him from being in Pizjuán. Except relapse 7 will be the one who leads the rojiblanco attack at the most delicate moment of the course. Nine finals, 27 points and the League title as a goal. It’s Joao Félix time.
