With Atlético de Madrid eliminated from the Champions League on Tuesday, Diego Simeone faces his umpteenth revalidation, so constant in recent times, facing Alavés, his son Giuliano and the worst visiting version of his own team in Mendizorroza, while the opportunity to move Athletic away to six points.
The 1-1 against Granada of the Bilbao team, which they will host next week at the Cívitas Metropolitano, suddenly offers a much greater benefit than was assumed on this day, as long as they are able to win in Vitoria to reaffirm their fourth square, increase your advantage and feel closer to your already unique objective.
He needs to win in Vitoria… against Giuliano Simeone. On loan from Atlético, already recovered from the serious injury suffered last summer, it will be a father versus son duel, a very special moment in Mendizorroza, although the striker aims to be a substitute to receive the Madrid team, Simeone’s block, which competes again against doubts.
This Atlético is a mystery. Not reliable at all. Ten defeats in their last 16 outings in official competitions, with only three wins; Three games lost in their last four trips or five in the most recent seven highlight the roller coaster they are going through: impressive at home, with 43 of 48 points; disappointing away, with 18 of 45.
Never before had Simeone’s Atlético suffered more defeats, 11, than victories, 7, as a visitor. He didn’t concede that many goals either. Nor did it convey such a vulnerable and unpredictable feeling.
Their punch has been reduced at the top (Griezmann has scored three goals in the last 14 games and Morata has gone seven without beating the opponent’s goal, with only one goal in his last 16 games, when before all that they had 27 goals between the two this year), Nothing hides the defensive disfigurement of the red and whites.
The insistent forcefulness that Simeone speaks of is an incomplete explanation of his team’s visiting performance, which neither dominates nor finishes nor presses nor resolves nor defends itself as it does in its territory. Dortmund was one of many this campaign, magnified by the level of the opponent, the stage and the competition, but neither more nor less than what had happened in Cádiz, in Bilbao, in Seville, in Las Palmas or in Barcelona.
Their visitor reaction is still pending, even though the 1-2 victory at Villarreal was a recent parenthesis amid so much disappointment away from the Metropolitano. The 1-3 in the Cup in Lugo and the 0-1 against Granada complete Atlético’s only three away successes from December 3 until now. Almost five months have passed since then, while he insists on Girona’s third place and protects fourth from Athletic’s pursuit.
Opposite, Alavés has three consecutive defeats and, although the feelings have not been bad in the last month, the recent match in Granada triggered some alarm (2-0).
Despite everything, the Albiazul fans trust their team and will be by their side for one more day in which the Vitoria Coliseum will be close to full.
With a victory in the last nine games, the babazorros’ must is the goal. He has only scored one in the last five games and needs to generate more chances to seal a stay that is getting closer and closer.
Luis García Plaza will have the entire squad available and will possibly return to a more recognizable eleven after the changes he made on the last day. Jon Guridi and Abdel Abqar could return to the starting team in which Carlos Benavídez could enter the midfield.
At Atlético, from the defeat in Dortmund to the match in Vitoria, Simeone is considering four changes: Stefan Savic will come in as right center back for Axel Witsel; Samuel Lino, suspended in Germany, will return to the left lane; Ángel Correa will form in attack in place of Morata, who is out due to an illness, but who was already aiming to be a substitute in the tactical tests; and Pablo Barrios will make up for Marcos Llorente’s absence due to suspension in midfield.
In the rest of the positions, Jan Oblak will continue in goal; Nahuel Molina will remain in the right lane; José María Giménez and César Azpilicueta, with Hermoso as a probable substitute, will play as center backs alongside Savic; Koke Resurrección and Rodrigo de Paul will remain in midfield; and Antoine Griezmann is indisputable in the attack, in which Memphis Depay is still missing, in addition to Morata and like Thomas Lemar.
⁃ Probable lineups:
Alavés: Sivera; Gorosabel, Marín, Abqar, Javi López; Rioja, Guevara, Blanco or Benavídez, Guridi, Vicente; and Samu.
Atlético de Madrid: Oblak; Molina, Savic, Giménez, Azpilicueta, Lino; De Paul, Koke, Barrios; Griezmann and Correa.
Referee: Gil Manzano (C. Extremeño).
Stadium: Mendizorroza.
Time: 18.30.
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Positions: Alavés (14th, 32 points); Atlético de Madrid (4th, 61 points).
The key: The reaction capacity of Atlético and Alavés.
The fact: Alavés has lost three times, with only one goal scored in the last five games.
The phrases:
García Plaza: “The team has risen.”
Simeone: “I imagine a match with quite an intensity.”
The environment: Mendizorroza will once again reach full capacity in a duel in which father and son, Diego Pablo Simeone and Giuliano Simeone, will face each other. In addition, Samu Omorodion will face the team that has his rights. EFE
#Simeone #Simeone #Republic
