*** Celtic were left with 10 players, and the numerical superiority of the red and white team definitively transformed the match.
In the umpteenth decisive demonstration by Griezmann, double scorer and crucial promoter of Morata’s 2-0 win, Atlético de Madrid regained control of their group, winning a party at the Metropolitano against Celtic (6-0), defeated by the initial effectiveness of the Frenchman and the expulsion in the 23rd minute, still at 1-0, of Maeda.
There are already 168 red and white goals from Griezmann, just five away from the unmatched 173 by Luis Aragonés in the history of a centenary entity, heading towards eternity at Atlético, acclaimed by the 60,863 spectators of the Metropolitano when he was replaced by Diego Simeone with 3-0, with the job already completely resolved, with victory already certain.
Then Samuel Lino expanded it, with a great goal at minute 66, of his reappearance after three games out to widen the gap between Atlético and Celtic. Later, again, Morata, with his twelfth goal of the season at club level in fourteen games, with an accurate shot from the edge of the area. Then, Saúl’s 6-0, already in the 85th minute, to round off a conclusive victory.
There are already eight points in the quartet that definitively distance them from the Scottish team, but not from the rest. The group remains in the strong competition that is still assumed between the red and white club, Lazio – one point behind – and Feyenoord – two points below. Between them is the pass to the round of 16 and the first position in the group. There are two days left.
Winner of their sixteenth consecutive home game (14 in the League and two in the Champions League), Atlético took advantage of their first chance. Everything is easier with that punch. Everything is easier when you have a resource like Griezmann. A constant solution.
In his left interior position, in the uncertain start of the game that the red and white team perceived, in six minutes, the French international, the next top scorer in the club’s history, sooner rather than later at this pace, hit Celtic with a control and a left-footed shot. A rebound off a defender turned Hart’s stretch into a futile effort.
The center that provoked the action, the clearance by the Scottish defense, was from Riquelme, a boy whose limit is not intuited today. Sharp, fast, overflowing, he has a winger, a winger, a footballer, for a long time Atlético, who began to win the game because of his profile and because of Griezmann’s goal. A treasure in current times in the Champions League.
A boost of conviction and confidence for Diego Simeone’s group. Aware that it was a crucial clash. Without nuances. Without excuses. The first section was not the game that Atlético intended, again against a Celtic that emerged powerful, daring, that did not care about possession, but that stayed there, later devoured by the circumstances.
Even with 1-0, the Scottish team played more in the opposite field than Atlético, until the expulsion of Maeda, back in the 20th minute. One of their most transcendent footballers. The Japanese winger made an imprudence when he showed too much of his iron in a full-power fight by Mario Hermoso. The impact on the red and white’s ankle, no matter how much the boot was pointed to one side, crossed the line between the yellow card at first glance from the referee, Ivan Kruzliak, and the red card as soon as he reviewed the play on the monitor at the foot of the field.
With Celtic conditioned and reduced, the numerical superiority already definitively transformed the match. There was still a scare, in a corner kick that Álvaro Morata cleared into the air and Jan Oblak miraculously solved it with a saving left hand. The ball was going in. Indicated in the two goals last Friday in Las Palmas, such a stop is a vindication of the best goalkeeper in the history of the red-and-white club, although it is not always infallible.
Atlético no longer allowed any more, and they took control of everything. Of the ball, of the spaces, of the game, of the unmarking and of all the action in the field of the Scottish block, which had no choice but to withdraw into its territory waiting for an unexpected counterattack, waiting for the that the red and white team was capable of, which insisted, insisted, insisted and scored 2-0.
On the brink of half-time, in the 47th minute, everything came from a masterful cross from Griezmann. With precision, diagonally, from the right wing, almost close to the line in three quarters of the field, even inside the area, he connected with Giménez, who continued the action with a header for the arrival of Morata, who He sentenced the game from the ground.
Before the break, Hart flew to repel a shot from Correa. After the intermission, with the entry of Marcos Llorente for Pablo Barrios upon returning from the locker room, the goalkeeper did the same thing again against the Argentine attacker, then he watched with relief as the crossbar spit out a lofted header from Giménez, already reducing the duel to whatever Atlético was capable of.
Or Griezmann. And that is a condemnation for any rival when they expose themselves to the French attacker, who invented a Chilean half with his left to make it 3-0 at the hour mark, before the well-deserved rest that Simeone gave him with the match resolved; before the great right-footed goal from Lino’s left profile, with an impossible thread for Hart; before Morata’s 5-0 and before Saúl’s 6-0. The end of the celebration for the Metropolitano and Atlético, reconciled with the Champions League, still in the fight for classification.
– Datasheet:
6 – Atlético de Madrid: Oblak; Molina (Azpilicueta, d. 70), Giménez (Soyuncu, d. 77), Witsel, Hermoso, Riquelme (Lino, d. 65); Barrios (Llorente, m. 46), Koke, Griezmann (Saúl, m. 65); Morata and Correa.
0 – Celtic: Hart; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor; Paulo Bernardo (Turnbull, m. 61), McGregor (Iwata, m. 70), O’Riley (Holm, m. 46), Maeda, Kyogo Furushashi (Yang, m. 61) y Palma (Oh, m. 46).
Goals: 1-0, m. 6: Griezmann. 2-0, m. 47+: Morata. 3-0, m. 60: Griezmann. 4-0, m. 66: Linen. 5-0, m. 75: Morata. 6-0, m. 84: Saul.
Referee: Ivan Kruzliak (Slovakia). He sent off Maeda, from Celtic, with a direct red card, after a VAR review (m. 22). He gave a yellow card to the local Llorente (m. 90) and the visitor Luis Palma (m. 35), in addition to the coach, Brendan Rodgers.
Incidents: match corresponding to the fourth day of group E of the Champions League, played at the Cívitas Metropolitano stadium in front of 60,863 spectators. EFE
2023-11-08 08:00:14
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