• Round of 16 Program and results

Having

Modric

is like signing insurance with a good company.

There is no claim that it does not attend.

Atalanta, with the best wills but in the absence of the select qualities of the Champions shelf, did not take Madrid to that extreme, but pressed it enough that it was necessary to stop the ball and start again.

The Croatian did, by putting order, then letting

Vinicius

run

, heading to the quarters.

Waiting for Atlético, this interwar Madrid is, for now, the only ship of a once invincible Navy.

We are not fashionable like then, although there are those who never go out of style.

[Narration and statistics (3-1)]

The game that Atalanta proposed was not to be played, but to know how to play it, to interpret it.

Gasperini's

team

came to Valdebebas to do what they do best, which is to position themselves in the opposite field, press and attack.

He fulfilled it with energy and animosity, above Madrid in individual duels in the first section, but without creating real danger against

Courtois

.

Just one arrival of

Muriel

on the left that ended, soft,

Gosens

.

The Italian team, determined and insistent on pressure, with the wear and tear that markings imply on the man, is not accompanied by precision and imagination in the final meters, where all of the above is valued.

He only left Muriel's free-kick goal, exalted.

This does not detract at all from his career in Calcio, turned into a countercultural squad, in an author team that opened a very interesting path in Italy, although without the responsibility of winning titles.

For that other individual arguments are needed.

They are expensive, very expensive.

Exit to fire

Gasperini did not initially use two of those who can contribute the most in these situations.

Zapata

, injured in the first leg, started on the bench and did not enter until the second half.

The same happened with

Ilicic

.

Probably, the Italian thought about the energy he was going to need to fry Madrid with a fire start from Atalanta.

The pressure knocked

ZZ's

men off

the field in the first quarter of the game.

The French coach decided again on the formula of the three centrals, despite the fact that in the last match, against Elche, he did not offer fluency.

The problem in those first minutes, however, was not one of the system, but one of intensity and position.

Atalanta forced Courtois to serve long and then won long balls in disputes.

At that juncture is where

Casemiro is missed

, sanctioned: His relief,

Valverde

, puts the physical but not the position that distinguishes the Brazilian.

So Madrid needed a break and a ball.

It was put by Modric, who drew back to find clean balls with which to start building another game.

Long possessions changed the trend and Madrid reached the Italian area with combinations, the best between Vinicius and

Benzema

, although without a goal.

This new party also brought the Croatian to the place of danger, who paints with a brush or picks with a mallet, as appropriate.

A robbery in the rectangle served Benzema the goal that clarified the crossing.

Striking celebration

The spaces were going to be bigger, given the needs of the Atalanta, a fertile field for running, for Vinicius.

The Brazilian did the impossible and failed the possible.

It is a story already told.

He caught the ball practically in his area, leaned and went out to receive.

He dodged rivals with his eyes only on the ball, before an astonished Benzema, and when he only had to lodge the ball in the net, he threw out.

It is a fate that pursues him, although from such careers the fruit always ends up falling.

It happened when he was shot down while entering the area.

Ramos took

the penalty and celebrated his return by time, with agreed minutes, with the goal, already definitive for the tie, although Muriel's impeccable launch and a goal just outside of

Asensio

extended the score.

For the Balearic, with the face of someone who has lost something, it must be therapeutic.

Here the position is won every day.

The captain and

Lucas Vázquez

know this well

, who celebrated the 2-0 with the complicity of those who demand the renewal.

We will talk about that, after quarters.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Luka modric

  • Thibaut Courtois

  • sports

  • football

  • Champions League

  • Sergio Ramos

  • Real Madrid

  • Karim Benzema

ChampionsReal Madrid, the only Spaniard to win in the Champions League thanks to Ferland Mendy's two-for-one: expulsion and goal

LaLiga Santander 2020 - 2021Benzema's smile and relief: from an injury that compromised everything to league survival

ChampionsThe number 78,920, childhood traumas and his 'brother' Varane: the story of Mendy, the boy who "is always smiling"

See links of interest

  • 2021 business calendar

  • Barça - Unicaja

  • Real Madrid - Atalanta, live

  • Manchester City - Borussia Mönchengladbach