• Chronicle: A sad Athletic receives from his own medicine

In the red-and-white bench of Ipurua, three kids were biting their nails waiting for Atlético to at least tie in the rain. Riquelme, Camello and Óscar Clemente were three of the solutions that Simeone had to get out of the air. A mistake in the goal of Esteban Burgos and another one of those starts that seemed to be a thing of the past, forced the Madrid team to fight without poison for a comeback that never came. "The first time we did not play it. Back in October we lived with lost times and we did it again. It is my responsibility," the Argentine coach blamed himself, six days after losing the Supercup against Real Madrid on penalties.

Because the problem was not, as in other school nights, the lack of smell. It was simply that there were barely any balls in conditions to finish off. Dmitrovic , the beefy local goalkeeper, was hardly demanded despite the rojiblancos grabbing the helm firmly during the second half. Of the 12 shots, only four went to goal and none made the Balkan shine.

"The start was again very bad and they go many times this season," Saul raised his voice again, as he did in autumn after the goalless draw in Valladolid or, on the grass, after nailing the knee in Leverkusen. "We have not created clear chances despite arriving a lot. We did not have much fluidity and we have lacked many things. It is a hard stick," admitted the fourth Atlético captain, who played for more than an hour as a left back. "We have to be smarter playing," he claimed to his teammates and, also, himself.

Even so, when Simeone saw that the matter had a difficult solution, already in the last 10 minutes, he turned to Camello (three goals) and Oscar Clemente (eight), boys with a goal in the brilliant subsidiary of Second B, to discover a crack in the Eibar. In the first round, Riquelme was chosen to pursue a comeback in the Wanda Metropolitano that, then yes, arrived at the last minute and served to place himself at the top of the classification for the first and last time.

After three straight wins in LaLiga, Atlético fell again. And he did it in a place where Simeone had never twisted his gesture. "We can win and lose against anyone. We have not lost points that were planned," said the Argentine coach, whose team now lies, after the third league defeat of the season, eight points behind Real Madrid. And maybe late Sunday, also eight from Barcelona. "If you enter the games badly, the rivals are prepared to overcome you," he summed up.

Two weeks after the winter market closes, Edinson Cavani's name continues to rumble in Atlético's lair. But in Ipurua, as happened to Morata, Correa or Joao Félix, the Uruguayan nose could not have been solved.

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  • sports
  • Atlético de Madrid
  • First division
  • SD Eibar

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