Griezmann leads the way to the round of 16 against Marbella and Atlético’s thirteenth consecutive victory | Soccer | Sports

Without any surprises, with an early goal from Griezmann, Atlético got rid of Marbella, which became a mother club in the time of Jesús Gil. Only the lack of skill to achieve a bunch of clear chances kept the tie uncertain. The victory of the red and whites, in addition to achieving their place in the round of 16 of the Cup, was also achieved at the dawn of the Simeone era in the 12-13 campaign. The duel was played at La Rosaleda in Málaga, with a full capacity of 30,000 spectators. In the hours before the duel, ultras from the Atlético Front faced Málaga’s Boquerón Front to alter the cup atmosphere that was in the air.

It was at La Rosaleda where Simeone made his debut on the bench 13 years ago. The box office went well for Marbella, which offered competitive dignity, order, the speed of the left-footed Ohemeng and some details of a seasoned veteran from Callejón. Little to worry this energetic Atlético in which Griezmann wore the captain’s armband in the absence of Oblak and Giménez and the substitution of Koke.

The Frenchman led a team full of starters. Musso for the Slovenian goalkeeper, Le Normand for the Uruguayan center back. The Spanish-French center back played for the first time without the helmet that protected him from the brain fracture he suffered in the Madrid derby. Molina, for Marcos Llorente, completed a starting eleven with which Simeone announced that he did not want any surprises. Cholo has a predilection for the Cup and after some high-profile romps like Cornellà or Cultural Leonesa he makes no concessions.

Cholo, sent off against Cacereño, watched the duel from a box. From there he verified that in the first minutes his players executed the planned plan to break Marbella’s advanced defense. The idea was to exploit the speed of Giuliano and Javi Galán with long cross balls. The first was very active throughout the night, although lacking finesse in some actions in which he imposed his speed. It was on their side that Atlético broke Marbella’s defense after a quarter of an hour. One of those diagonal balls first turned into a header for Griezmann to throw a wall at him. The return was transformed by Giuliano into a right cross that was repelled by Dani Martín. with an astonishing speed that allowed him to catch it on the fly.

The goal ruled out the difficulties experienced in Vic and Cáceres. The absence of artificial grass also worked in Atlético’s favor. La Rosaleda was a carpet on which the rojiblancos could impose their technical superiority to govern the match. They did it in almost the entire field. They lacked precision in the last few meters to overwhelm their rival. Marbella only fell behind at the beginning of the second act and in the final stretch. He looked for the goal with lateral crosses and the occasional set piece. In any case, Musso did not have to star in any intervention of merit. Yes, Dani Martín did, especially in a volley by De Paul that he grabbed after an agile flight. Shortly before, the Argentine midfielder had managed to beat him, but the referee annulled the goal due to a previous handball.

Gallagher smashed one of his favorite threads on the stick from the crescent and Correa was too happy in a one-on-one that he conceded. The Norwegian also wasted another chance. That lack of judgment kept Marbella alive until the end, although without really threatening this record-breaking Atlético.