Julián Alvarez elevates a titanic Atlético | Soccer | Sports

A titanic Atlético led by Julián Alvarez had a historic night, sprinkled with that dynamic of the unthinkable that Argentine Dante Panzieri immortalized. He was better with ten than with eleven to overcome an opponent who had passed him by in the first half. In the game and on the scoreboard. The second was a hymn to the epic and faith of Simeone’s footballers. They equalized Hincapie’s goal and turned the game into a visceral affair. A battle for every ball and every meter cheered on by an inflamed fan base swelled by the reaction of their team. The Homeric victory places Atlético in a position to get into the top eight and avoid the round of 32.

The lineups of both coaches exuded metal and physicality. That of Cholo with the return to the defense of three centre-backs, with Giuliano on the right flank to counteract Grimaldo’s pecks in speed. On the left, Javi Galán had to gamble with another gazelle like Frimpong. It was strange that the third center back that Simeone chose, upon Giménez’s return to the eleven, was Molina instead of Le Normand. Xabi Alonso used the formula with which he faces high-level matches. So he set up that line of four centre-backs in which Mukiele and Hincapié serve as full-backs. The plan gave flight and freedom to Frimpong and Grimaldo to go off in attack without having to look in the rearview mirror. At first, the focus seemed to be on the battle of the bands. And in Alonso’s idea, before Schick’s substitution, of playing without a reference nine. The plan worked for the Tolosa coach.

With these two molds, it was the one that clearly prevailed. He stood in the opposite field and sank Simeone’s bewildered and outmatched team in their area. The only thing that the red and whites seemed to have clear was that Barrios had to overwhelm Wirtz’s talent. The rest was a set whose seams were popping in the middle or on the sides. In attack, Atlético did not connect two passes, with Griezmann lying on the left wing. Leverkusen was better planted and the first time Giuliano took the lead in attack, Grimaldo silenced the Metropolitano with a meteoric run on the counterattack. Atlético suffered a lot, as they were already warned with a goal disallowed for Tella, in a shot from outside the area and another from Wirtz at point-blank range that Oblak saved.

The German champion’s superiority in the first section was amplified by Barrios. The youth player went from revving to press Mukiele’s release of the ball and stabbed his studs into his calf. The review on the monitor dyed the initial yellow card red. Eleven against eleven, Leverkusen had been superior. With one less player, Atlético now only had to survive with an exercise in defensive resistance, some quixotic attempt with long balls to Julián Alvarez and the fervor of its fans. However, Atlético was able to hold on to Leverkusen until the edge of half-time. He even stretched and forced a couple of set pieces that fueled the hope of scratching something in attack. It happened that in the last play Atlético was punished with Hincapié’s goal.

The changes of Simeone and Alonso x-rayed their intentions. Cholo’s was to support the team with Reinildo for the outmatched Galán and look for some counterattack, and Alonso’s was to close the game as soon as possible by bringing in Schick for him.

This time it was Atlético who came in more energetic despite the result and their numerical disadvantage. Julián Alvarez starred in a heroic and convinced race to chase a long ball. First he won the fight against Tah and then against Tapsoba to step into the area and beat Kovar with a subtle cross touch. The action once again confirmed that Atlético has landed a great player. The goal already put the game in an Atlético key. Every duel won, every punt or every run caused an emotional and decibel earthquake in the stands. Ideal scenario for a Simeone. Giuliano forced Hincapié’s red card by breaking him on the baseline. Ten against ten, Atlético became emboldened and won the match with another prodigious maneuver from their star. Julián Alvarez coldly sat Kovar down to turn the Metropolitan into a volcano.