• Simeone. "Cristiano is an animal of the goal"
  • Previous.Joao Felix is ​​a bomb: double Juventus
  • Christian. "Removing Joao Felix, any player is worth 100 million today without having done anything"
  • Illusion. With you, the great red and white hope

The Champions League again at close range in the Wanda Metropolitano. Atletico will open fire on Wednesday against his last executioner, Juventus , who left him midway through eighth year after climbing with three goals from Cristiano the exciting 2-0 of the first leg. In case something else was needed to turn on the nerve of the Simeone boys. For the group it is a high test after the first defeat against Real, and for Joao Felix , an opportunity to take off against the same opponent against whom the illusion shot.

That double in the friendly of Stockholm announced Joao Felix as the new benchmark of a hobby that needed to close Griezmann's wound, but after a great preseason, accentuated with those two clinical shots against Juve, his first steps have been somewhat tentative. More sparkles than a real influence on the game. Of the four League matches, only one has finished. And in the last two he was replaced when Atlético had yet to look for the match.

The duel against Real Sociedad was the clearest example of that difficulty in gaining continued weight in the game. As much as Simeone moved him - he points alone, next to Vitolo or almost up to Diego Costa -, the Portuguese went unnoticed. After half an hour, after an error on the front, the Argentine turned to the bank and sent Correa to warm up. At 10 minutes of the second part the afternoon ended for Joao Felix.

As before Eibar, the change came when Atlético still needed to go for the game. It could be a warning or just a way to manage their minutes after having played with the Portuguese national team and four days before the Champions League premiere. The 126 million it cost does not make him the only savior.

What distinguishes the case of Joao Felix is ​​the speed at which everything is happening. Last season he only played in the Champions League last game of the group stage , when Benfica already knew he would be third. He did not have the fixed site until Bruno Lage, quarry technician, took over the first team in January and, although his performance was immediate, his great presentation in society was that hat trick at the Eintracht in Frankfurt in April.

Progression in six months

In six months he went from being a promising substitute for Atlético to pay his very high clause and be anointed as a new messiah after shining in Madrid 7-3 and that double against Juventus , the recurring nemesis of the rojiblancos in recent months . If the rise of other recent phenomena such as Mbappé, De Jong or De Ligt has already been accelerated, his is compressed in just half a year.

If something Joao Felix has shown in this warm start is that, even in the gray afternoons, you can leave a detail that unbalances a match. The anthological ride against Getafe (although Morata missed the penalty), the flash that gave rise to the goal of victory in the trenches of Butarque or the touch for Costa that launched the counterattack that would culminate against Eibar. You can be on the sidelines, halfway down or suffer in a game where you can't wear your technique ... and be definitive.

It is not his fault - not in that sense - the price that Atlético paid for him, the idol hunger after Griezmann's disappointment or that his flashes, even on crooked days, are irresistible. But everything weighs to make it the great red and white hope . And in particular, to shine again in the Champions League after the stumbling blocks of the last two seasons. After two finals and a semifinal in four years, in 2018 he was out in the group stage - although he was compensated by winning the Europa League - and in 2019 he left in eighths against his rival this Wednesday.

Everything puts Joao Felix under the spotlight of the long start in Champions. The talent, his performance in the last Europa League, the expectations, the rival against which he shone most strongly in the preseason, and even the presence in front of Cristiano Ronaldo . He who is named heir not only as a reference in Portuguese football, but as one of the future great stars of world football.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Joao Felix
  • Atlético de Madrid
  • Champions League
  • Diego Simeone
  • sports
  • football

Champions League Draw of the Champions, live: Madrid and Valencia, the best unemployed

LaLigaEl Atlético, leader with agony

LaLiga SantanderSimeone: "We are still morally the team of the people"