• First, this is the classification

A few days after the start of the month of July, a lanky (1.92 meter) and stocky boy showed up on the grass of Cerro del Espino. It was Ivan Saponjic (Nova Varos, 1997), a spiky Serbian striker whom some of his new teammates already knew. It was the case of Jan Oblak , represented like him by Miha Mlakar . Or that of Joao Felix , with whom he agreed in Lisbon, trying to gain a foothold in Benfica. Therefore, seven months after his signing and just over an hour of play (62 minutes), he has tried to establish an unreal link between his arrival and the renovation of the goalkeeper or the millionaire operation by the Portuguese crack.

“They offered it because of its low profile and it was a good opportunity because it had little economic impact for the team. But Simeone has never been filled, ”they slide from the red-and-white entity, recalling the details of that operation that was only half a million euros. His low salary, the smallest of the first team, was also decisive for Atlético to finish executing the movement. Saponjic had been the U20 World Champion with Serbia (2015) under the direction of former Athletic Veljko Paunovic , who also raised his thumb when asked. During his time at Benfica B (he scored 14 goals in 64 games), he coincided with Madrid's Jovic , who ended up climbing to the first team and left for Germany while he was stuck.

"Never lower your arms"

Despite Diego Costa and Álvaro Morata's injuries, Saponjic's presence against Granada is not certain. Simeone has tried it during the week but ... "He has suffered a lot these months, but he is a currante and never lowers his arms," ​​say those who deal with him. So far, he has only enjoyed one hour in front of the Leonesa Cultural, in the round of 16, where he had a couple of occasions to have changed the fate of his team, and two almost invisible minutes, at the close of the duel against the Leganés Everything, in the last days of January. Subsidiary boys like Camel , Poveda (seriously injured), Riquelme or Clemente have been advancing, but "has never put a bad face."

The fact is that what seemed a market opportunity in summer, today is the only healthy center forward left in Atlético, with Costa finalizing his recovery and Morata, with a muscular injury. "He knows what he has to do to get closer to what the team needs," Simeone has been repeatedly holding every time he is asked about him. Its future, already dark, would have been even blacker if the signing of Uruguayan Edinson Cavani had been completed .

"We will find the solutions in attack based on searching," Cholo said yesterday, thinking about what can be the best goal scorer to end that terrible streak of three matches in LaLiga without winning and, above all, without seeing the door.

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  • sports
  • Atlético de Madrid
  • football
  • First division
  • Granada CF

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