“I’m calm,” said Diego Pablo Simeone, convinced that Atletico would not have left the field had Barcelona given easy passage from the inside lanes. “We started with determination, with good pressing, with the goal. Then they found spaces to hurt us with their inside passes. We could have done better defensively, but they are very good in those transitions through the middle,” said the red and white coach.
In his mind, Simeone usually fails in many matches when facing a strong opponent. Almost always with the mentality of having him play at a loss first and then finishing him off by adding whatever he needs. Whether they are players with legs and lungs, technicians or defensive specialists if what they want is to finish the game. Against Arsenal, he came up with one of those tactics and it failed. He left his most creative player, Alex Baena, on the bench. Since then, the Almeria international has not left the starting lineup. All of Cholo’s plans now include having Baena on the field. Because of talent and because he does not skimp on defensive efforts, as he showed in the comeback in which he prevented Rafinha from facing Oblak. “He is our most important player in midfield. He is a differential player, he has character and courage to know how to play where you tell him,” Cholo praised the man who was his best player while on the field.
Simeone’s first plan was that Baena would play on the left flank and that Julian Alvarez would be accompanied by Nico Gonzalez. The end was nothing but a reminder of the character of Raul Garcia as he combed the balls, embraced the pressure, and approached the attacking centers to exploit his arrival. In this way, Atletico controlled the match in the first minutes. It was played at Barcelona’s home stadium, and there were more forced transitions than complicated procedures.
That first approach collapsed for Simeone when Cardoso, whom the red and white coach chose instead of Koke, was injured in a jump with Coparsi. The captain entered and Simeone exchanged positions with Baena and Nico Gonzalez. The matter succeeded when the first raced into space to reach Molina’s pass, which penetrated Barca’s advanced defence. Against Juan Garcia he was precise and accurate with a soft touch with the outside of his right boot. Atletico’s advantage lasted five minutes. It’s split in the middle. Simeone lamented: “We know that they have very good children, and they play with a lot of players inside to take out the centre-backs and cause chaos. If we allow them to play inside, they will play well, and they will find the passes.” First, neither Baena nor Julian Alvarez covered Pedri, who crossed the goal line comfortably. Barrios and Kuki didn’t jump on him either, they were too far away and Hanako didn’t get close behind Lenglet. When Rafinha outplayed Oblak and scored, Simeone criticized the ease with which Pedri always maneuvers face to face. Oblak admitted: “We suffered a lot. The balls entered easily. They found spaces and caused us a lot of damage.” The suicide that disintegrated Atletico. Koke has not been in form so far this season. Barrios took a rookie penalty kick on Dani Olmo. Lewandowski shot the ball high but forced Oblak into one of his rare saves of the year. The Slovenian goalkeeper said: “We lacked a goal. We had two clear chances to equalize. Barcelona played a great match. They also had chances.”
Atletico sighed at the end of the first half and brought on Simeone Gallagher for Nico Gonzalez to bolster the midfield. This new idea might have prevailed had Giuliano caught it on an obvious occasion. Soon Baena was injured and Olmo scored. Simeone’s latest plan, Sorloth. Griezmann and Almada could have gone well if Almada had scored after Juan Garcia’s assist or Griezmann had had a better shot at will. We didn’t win the title, but I liked the team. We had three important situations.”