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Atlético escaped unharmed with intrigue on their return to that Europe that now has a soundtrack again.
Soccer sounds like something else with a full crowd.
But that is not enough.
The rojiblancos confirmed against Porto what they already feared: that a group awaits them in which they will not have a moment of respite.
The Portuguese threatened until sunset.
Sometimes a starting point to start a tough journey is not bad.
Atlético landed in the Eurocup with the rush of the 99th minute comeback in Cornellà. But it also started with some tweaks that the second half in Barcelona had made almost essential. For example, the presence of
Thomas Lemar
. The hero of the last rojiblanca after-dinner. Between the lines, sometimes entangling with
Carrasco
and
Joao Félix
, the Frenchman's left-handed appeared mischievous. However, Lemar lasted just over half an hour. Simeone's tactical turn, in what was the European premiere of
De Paul
with his new shield, responded to muscular problems of the Frenchman. Of course, the locals gained precision and fight with the Argentine anchor.
A
Diogo Costa
, the goalkeeper illustrious Porto, who looked at his back a whole 99, barely quickened the pulse in the first act. Only
Luis Suárez
, when the duel dawned, managed to draw a tight blow that the Portuguese goalkeeper managed to deflect. It was the only notch on the Punta Charrúa, which in another time would have gone straight at a gallop in search of the opposite door. Even so, it was the rojiblancos' most venomous dart, who felt the heat of their fans again a year and a half later. The silence had seemed like an eternity within the walls of a stadium that raised a League down the winding path.
As Simeone, who knows well how his former Lazio teammate
Sergio Conceiçao
spends them, had already warned,
Atlético found themselves with an intense and suffocating rival. Because the Champions League, no matter the adversary, is something else. The Portuguese, a bogeyman before the Argentine coach took command, showed up with high pressure and the desire to embitter whatever party was necessary. And they could well have done it, for example, when
Luis Díaz
he headed towards Oblak, in a counterattack that ignited Cholo, after a tangle in a corner kick.
At the height of the matter, Kondogbia's boot appeared, striding cleanly across the field on its endless legs like a gazelle.
An entry to the limit that raised the stands and continues to feed a midfielder convinced of his importance, who finished as a central defender.
The 'curse' of Suárez
Atlético amassed the ball, although neither
Luis Suárez
, seized by that strange curse that has accompanied him in the Champions League (he has not yet scored as rojiblanco), nor Joao Félix managed to detonate the dynamite.
Porto was very close to doing it almost accidentally.
Because a poisoned center from
Otavio
ended up shaking Oblak's crossbar, who had been found disoriented.
For almost an hour, Atlético sailed in the midst of a tense calm.
He had nothing in his pocket, but he didn't want to go crazy either.
You know from experience that startups can mark the journey to winter.
Because the group stage, and less so in this sharp squad with illustrious champions, does not grant second chances.
Nor did the stands forgive Griezmann, who appeared back for the green, in front of his people, more than two years later.
He was slapped away from the stands by the loud mischief, but ended up ducking his head with his new 8 on his back.
The entrance of the Frenchman, along with that of
Lodi
and
Correa
, was the rudder stroke with which Simeone tried to trip a Porto determined not to avert his threatening gaze.
In the red-
and-white
behind,
Giménez
and
Hermoso
put their sanity;
Felipe
, the intrigue.
The VAR decision
The rojiblancos gained speed, freshness and the bad intentions that they had barely shown until that moment.
A crossed shoe by Correa, who has not seen a door in the Champions League since the day of its premiere, in 2015, could have led to the redemption of Griezmann.
The goalkeeper's rejection did not hock him by millimeters.
But when the Metropolitan really shuddered was when
Taremi
, in another misalignment of the centrals, this time from
Kondogbia
, ended up beating Oblak.
Something that between the referee and the VAR ended up burying for fault.
A relief for Atlético, who could have fallen through the gorge.
At least it didn't start empty.
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