Atlético's possession of Atlético that surprises everyone
Atlético de Madrid has saved, with a goal by Saúl Ñíguez after the break, a draw at home of the RCD Espanyol colista (1-1), a result that allows him to climb to the fourth place of LaLiga Santander but partly tarnishes a week that began knocking down the current European champion. Still with the euphoria of the victory of the first leg of the ‘Champions’ against Liverpool (1-0), Diego Pablo Simeone again showed his home version version - where they have not won in the League this year. However there is a fact that says that Atlético has had a 62.7% possession of the match. That is, the highest as a visitor since 2016, when against Leganés he had 63.6.
On the return of Raúl de Tomás, the blue and white team surprised the Madrid team first, who had to recover on Savic's own goal. Aware of their need, the parakeet box tried to match the intensity of the rojiblancos, which led to a start of the game in which the inaccuracies reigned. Already three minutes later, Diego López had to reach out to disrupt a shot by Carrasco, and shortly after Thomas avoided a shot with Bernardo's danger. Just when the rhythm began to decline, a play on the right wing between Javi López and Wu Lei ended with a center of the Chinese striker towards Raúl de Tomás, who lightly touched the ball before Stefan Savic involuntarily introduced him into his own goal (min .24). And it is that the Madrid forward revolutionized a first part in which he led the red-and-white defense head, leading between shouts of ‘Yes you can’ a pressure that offered no truce to those of ‘Cholo’ at the exit of the ball.
The parakeet insistence was about to assume 2-0 after half an hour, in a shot from the front of Víctor Sánchez that made Jan Oblak fly and that ended with the ball crashing into the crossbar. Just before intermission, Embarba again tested the Slovenian goalkeeper, who intercepted his foul kick. SAÚL UNLOCKS THE ATHLETE He had hardly played a minute since the restart when Saúl Ñíguez, after a trippier side foul, hit a volley on second unstoppable play for Diego López with which he balanced the contest (min. 47). The fight began again and those of Simeone gained strength. In fact, the sensation of danger began to increase, although he did not finish materializing his plays, with centers that did not find a finisher and with a shot that met the opposition of the Catalan defense. All this until the 62nd minute, when Joao Felix forced the Galician goalkeeper to deflect a ball that hit the post, before Morata topped the wood again. The Spaniards, in spite of everything, kept trying until the end, and they could even take all three points in a pair of Bernardo head shots. The changes of the Argentine coach, who introduced Joao Felix, Vitolo and Diego Costa in search of victory, did not take effect either. With this tie, Atlético tie the fourth place (44), two points away from a Sevilla they will face in the next day. Espanyol, on the other hand, does not leave the last position (20) despite the point and remains five units from the salvation zone.
