Direct Narration and statistics
When you don't have enough, it is best to get on the back of your giants and keep walking.
This is what Atlético did, which is not going through its best moment, but continues to insist.
The rojiblancos pulled off a poisoned afternoon against Alavés thanks to the head of Luis Suárez and, above all, the left glove of Jan Oblak.
Gold Glove.
The stars are there to light the way, no matter how dark the night may be.
And the Slovenian goalkeeper did it by saving a penalty in the twilight, three years after guessing his last maximum penalty.
There are stops that are worth titles.
And this, perhaps, ends up being one of them.
And the fact is that the leader, still with some symptoms of a European hangover, ran into a restless visitor, who at the start showed a very different aspect from his numbers and classification.
Abelardo's men, who are fighting to escape the abyss, responded with intensity and enthusiasm to Atlético's staging, with their invariable drawing.
Without
Joao Félix
, sanctioned, it was
Lemar
and
Correa
who tried to come up with a valid argument with which to set foot in the Vitoria area.
Not an easy matter, much less in the center, because around
Pacheco
there was an electrified meadow where it was difficult to look out without the opponent's breath.
The rojiblanco team did not look too much either.
At halftime, the scoreboard did not wag.
And that the VAR called Martínez Munuera to the chapter to check a hand in
Edgar Méndez's area
.
The matter ended in a prior foul by Giménez.
Through
Stefan Savic's
boots
passed the two balls that could have given the game a swerve.
The untouchable Montenegrin, incurring in areas outside his domain, invented (or left) a poisoned center that took Pacheco out of his calm.
And two meters from his friend Oblak, after a robbery by Alavés, he instinctively ended up hitting a shot from Joselu destined to put the future of the leader in trouble.
Savic, inadvertently, would end up being the protagonist.
As has been written, not much happened in that first act, where Luis Suárez, already cooled by the sparks of Stamford Bridge, did not stop working a span of grass in which to draw.
He did it, from outside the area, without aim, while
Pellistri
, a winger with the face and impudence of a child, insisted along with
Joselu
in giving the bell in Madrid.
A thousand things must have crossed his mind, a thousand doubts, to Atlético, which can hardly allow itself to waver in the remainder of the championship.
But the sky opened and the sun rose again through the leader's right window.
Trippier
sped down that lane
, when his team showed another spirit, another spirit.
From that flank he sent a ball into the area, playing his leg, where the head of Luis Suárez, who has never stopped being in his place, resolved a good brown.
The next adventure of the English ended in a whip to the crossbar, after a stoppage of Pacheco, of Marcos Llorente.
The precision and bravery of the Briton, whom they have missed so much during his two months of suspension, ended up changing the fate of the first spring afternoon at the Metropolitan.
Because leaving with a victory to the national team break is the most comfortable couch in case of any doubt.
A breath of oxygen to tackle a steep home stretch with La Liga at the top of the hill.
The Mexican Herrera returned, with only six minutes in this 2021 dotted with injuries and coronavirus, and Atlético lost Carrasco for the visit to Sánchez-Pizjuán, after seeing his fifth yellow.
A notable drop, but at least only one, in a team where some of its pillars (Giménez, Hermoso, Llorente and Luis Suárez) have been under threat for a long time.
Atlético walked on the wire of Suárez's solitary goal until sunset.
And there, when fate threatened to twist his face, Jan Oblak appeared.
The man noted for his lack of response on penalties.
Savic inexplicably walked the elbow in front of Rioja, with the situation under control, and the VAR ended up telling about the infraction.
But the Slovenian giant broke in to guess Joselu's intentions.
Oblak did not dial, but the Wanda emitted a small roar as if it had.
Not only the goals are worth titles.
The Slovenian goalkeeper's left hand may be remembered in May.
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See links of interest
2021 business calendar
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Atlético de Madrid - Alavés, live
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