For just under an hour, Atlético was able to resist the gale that Arsenal always pretended to be. The ambition of his football ended up defeating a team that collapsed when Gabriel opened the scoring in a strategic play. a team that tries to exercise its superiority in all types of situations and the set piece is one of its specialties. The goal gave way to a torrent of football and goals that mistreated Atlético in the game and on the scoreboard. Four goals conceded and a football review was what Simeone and his players took home. The distance between both teams, during several sections of the game, was astronomical. One wanted to play and the other just countered and looked for counterattacks that barely appeared. He also did not win the second plays or the long balls. Barely ten decent minutes in the first half and the start of the second is very little to walk through the home of Europe’s greats.
4
David Raya, Gabriel Magalhães (Cristhian Mosquera, min. 71), Jurriën Timber (Ben White, min. 82), William Saliba, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze (Ethan Nwaneri, min. 72), Gabriel Martinelli, Martín Zubimendi (Christian Nørgaard, min. 72), Declan Rice and Viktor Gyökeres (Mikel Merino, min. 82)
0
Jan Oblak, Marcos Llorente, Robin Le Normand, Dávid Hancko, José María Giménez (Alex Baena, min. 62), Giuliano Simeone (Antoine Griezmann, min. 71), Pablo Barrios, Nico González (Matteo Ruggeri, min. 62), Koke (Conor Gallagher, min. 62), Alexander Sørloth (Thiago Almada, min. 71) y Julián Alvarez
Goals
1-0 min. 56: Gabriel. 2-0 min. 63: Martinelli. 3-0 min. 66: Viktor Gyokeres. 4-0 min. 69: Viktor Gyokeres
Referee Davide Massa
yellow cards
Giménez (min. 32), Martín Zubimendi (min. 37), Le Normand (min. 74)
Cholo’s eleven was outlined for a long game, with Sorloth as Julián Alvarez’s companion and the three best-footed players, , on the bench. A conservative bet that involved admitting Arsenal’s superiority with the ball. That delivery of the ball and control of the game was shameless. Those prudish approaches squeak a lot in a team that seeks to grow.
Arteta, with his marshal Odegaard injured, gave up Merino and placed Eze, understanding that he would need more inventiveness than Merino’s stride and physical and aerial power in the vicinity of Oblak’s area.
Not only did Atlético admit its inferiority with the ball from the lineup, its players also insisted on giving it to Arsenal with rude deliveries. The string of concessions forced . A shot from Eze demonized after hitting Giménez’s spur and the parabola fell plummeting onto the Slovenian goalkeeper’s crossbar. A filtered pass from Eze to Saka brought him in with Oblak, who was quick to bail and repel with his chest. Saka seemed to be the winger chosen to break the crowding of Atlético players in the area. Nico González and Hancko had a hard time every time he faced them. Arsenal didn’t need much to establish themselves in three quarters of the field. Zubimendi and Rice were mere vertical passers to launch the broadsides. It took Atlético a while to settle. He did it after Giuliano insisted with David Raya on a ball that went out of bounds. The quick serve was taken advantage of by Julián Alvarez with Raya returning to the goal to try to score a thread into the empty net that escaped by a couple of inches.
The scare stopped Arsenal and gave way to an Atlético with a little more substance, especially when Julián Alvarez was late to try to do what neither Baena, nor Griezmann, nor Almada could from the bench. The Argentine gave him a break and solutions, who couldn’t find someone to play with. The few times that Llorente ventured to break for his side described the fears of Simeone’s approach.
The plan gave the rojiblanco coach to hold on to the tie at half-time. It remained to be seen if he finished it off in the second. A poisonous screw by Julián Alvarez shortly after the start of the restart that repelled the crossbar was a mirage and also a wishbone for Arsenal. From that moment on, Arteta’s team. The mattress defense was cracked in a lateral foul that Gabriel won at the near post by sneaking between Nico González and Giménez. Atlético’s resistance lasted less than an hour. One by one they conceded goals in a cascade that described a flaccid and youthful defensive system. The goal scored against Atlético. The entrances of Baena, Ruggeri and Gallagher had no impact on a team broken in the middle.
Gabriel himself, a center back, crossed the center of the field with hardly any opposition until he acted as a postman and at the top of the area. The Brazilian’s curve surpassed Oblak, who barely managed to hit it. It was one of those many that open the debate about whether the Slovenian is at his best due to the high level he has always shown. It was Gyökeres who ended up finishing the beating. He had spent the entire game fighting with Giménez and Le Normand in arduous zapping work. In the small area he was more eager than any Atlético defender to score the two goals that closed the scoring. A harsh punishment for a coach and a team that this time did not compete as the game demanded.
