• Direct This was Atlético 2 Villarreal 2

Sometimes football can be so absurd that it is better to let go. How to explain that in the last ball of the game, a

desperate shot

from

Saúl

,

Mandi

put his head in the direction of his goal. That

Rulli

came out when their centrals seemed to have the situation under control. That the ball caught him off foot, that the goalkeeper slipped, that

Atlético de Madrid

rescued the point it deserved in the most unexpected play. [Narration and statistics]



What would not have crossed

Simeone's

head

when he saw that

Giménez

tried to give

Savic

with his chest

a long ball with two rivals on top. What not when he saw that the Montenegrin was caught asleep. When Arnaut

Danjuma

ate his toast, when

Yéremi Pino

cut out before the two and left him alone. When he saw that an improper mistake could give his team the first defeat in a game he had dominated. When he saw that an absurd mistake could cost him the first loss of the season.



Atlético de Madrid had everything except the most important. What he has always had, the defensive concentration, and what this more daring version is having, the fang in the opposite area. And that lack of determination in the areas cost him two points in a game in which he had started by sweeping Villarreal.



Because Simeone's team was a whirlwind from the start.

As if the current that came out of the stands were plugged into the grass.

The rojiblanco group imposed a rhythm at times overwhelming for Villarreal.

Those of

Unai Emery

, who generally tend to come out well from the pressure in the opposite field, were slow to find the returns to the athletic intensity.

When they weren't errors due to precipitation, it was pure physics: the rojiblancas jerseys appeared in more places.

Lemar, multiplied


And

Lemar

in front

playing as a midfielder with an endless journey: fang in the pressure, criterion at the beginning of the play and decision in the final meters. Ultimately, someone for whom anyone would pay 80 million. The Frenchman has found the step inside, where he has found freedom to show himself as he is. Midfielder, wingman and attacker according to the moment, the need or the door he finds open.



Some of Atlético's best chances came off his feet in the first half. The most impressive, a play that began with a steal in midfield, followed with a pass into the gap for

Trippier's

raise

and ended with a double shot. The first to the post after a touch of Rulli and the second to the clouds.



The rest came from those of

Correa

, who has not gone like an angel since that hug from Simeone. The Argentine has a gift for turning any ball near the area into a dangerous action. An oriented control that is worth half goals and an accurate shot that this time was not sharpened.



But sometimes the dynamics and merits in football matter so little that, after 50 minutes of the rojiblanco command, Villarreal had already advanced in their first dangerous action. Yeremi Pino escaped on the right, splitting a two against one with a dry cut inwards and crossed flat to the front so that

Trigueros

finished first with the interior. A well-targeted hit and a bad response from Oblak.



They matter so little that two minutes later, Correa, always such a buzzer, took advantage of an error in a Villarreal throw-in in defense to sneak into the area and give it back so that

Luis Suárez

, anonymous the rest of the night, put the tie .

But that is also the value of the Uruguayan: no matter how little he participates, it is enough that he has someone in a danger zone for him to take out the hammer.



They matter so little, after all, that in the most absurd play of the night Atlético found the point they had sought so much.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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