Atlético's identity crisis: when defending is no longer an art and Wanda is no longer a safe place

• Chronicle Atlético derails at home before the final in Porto

Not even seven months have passed since that idyllic scene after winning the League on the Valladolid pitch. Indelible scenes like that of that Simeone with the smile of a child, as if it were his first time. Or those uncontrolled tears of Luis Suárez, freed from his nightmares. A handful of intrahistories in the last chapter of a title that seemed to herald the dawn of another era, of another style, of another step. In summer, with the signing of

and the return of

, also with a third striker (finally) like

, the process seemed well cooked.

On Sunday, however, Atlético woke up hungover. It was Sunday and, up to a point, it might have been normal. But, no, it was because of the ball. Among the cool of Cerro del Espino de Majadahonda, where Simeone and his players appeared in the morning, a harsh and strange sensation was chewing. As if the indestructible aura of the team had been diluted in these little more than six months. As if all the road traveled since 2011, when that drifting team desperately clung to the Argentine coach, was nothing more than a happy memory. In short, as if that essence had been transformed into a handful of ashes.

Perhaps Simeone's snort of relief in Cádiz, after

redeeming goal

, is much better understood after what he experienced against Mallorca. That comeback at dusk, before the astonished gaze of a Metropolitan that seems to have ceased to be a safe place. So far this year, between the League and the Champions League, Atlético have lost three games. And apart from the assault by the Balearic team, Real Sociedad, Athletic and Villarreal have returned home with something in their pocket. So did Porto, at the start of that badly ironed Champions League that ends on a Russian roulette in Portugal on Tuesday. The

Vallecano, with the same eight games in his stadium, has achieved seven points more than the rojiblancos, sixth in a section where they cemented the conquest of the last league: 15 victories, three draws and a single defeat (Levante).

16 goals in 15 league games

But the issue is not only about results (which too). It is, above all, about sensations. Of lost sensations, specifically. That, not so long ago, a 1-0 was indestructible. It didn't matter if they had 80 or 20 minutes left, like on Sunday. This season, the goal is no longer a certainty, since the team has lost that defensive forcefulness that, in other times, allowed it to survive sieges (Munich, Anfield, Barcelona ...) that would have destroyed anyone. If once resisting a meter from

was a sweet score, today it is a suffering that often leads to tragedy. For one reason (injuries) or another (mistakes), nobody tunes.

Atlético missed three unquestionable points on Saturday at another moment in the Simeone era. As a month ago, at the Mestalla, with two goals over, the victory in the discount faded. Eight goals conceded from set pieces and 16 in 15 league games illustrate the worst balance against at this point. Oblak's punch on the green of the Wanda as an epitaph to a nightmare that is no longer a coincidence. Defending has ceased to be an art to become a puzzle.

Aside from

and defense, there are more proper names.

A year ago, around this same time, Marcos Llorente was a harpoon, with four goals and two assists in just 10 days.

Today he tries to lash out from his exile on the right side, forced by

injury

.

Their numbers: one assist and no target in 15 episodes.

And although

scoring figures

(seven goals) are not very far from those of last season (nine in the first 15 games), his gestures do.

He spent 20 minutes in silence against Mallorca.

It was not the first time.

More attached, less personality

In the eventful metamorphosis of the champion, nothing has had to do, as it could happen in 2014, the flight of talents. On the contrary. Atlético not only did not lose muscle but also gained punch. Instead, he lost personality and now has a hard time knowing who he is. Where to go to find that balance where happiness resides. His 29 points in the league (10 behind Real Madrid) are the fourth worst record in the ten full seasons with Simeone.

Now there are two scenarios: either you rebel or you get depressed.

I suppose that he will rebel us », confided

, way of that hangover with which he did not count.

A headache prior to the crossing this December that looks like a precipice.

With the final in Porto where there is more at stake than money.

With visits to the Bernabéu and the Pizjuán, where the League, already convoluted, can jump through the air.

As if there were only ashes left from that team that touched the sky in May.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• sports

• Atlético de Madrid

• First division

• soccer

LaLigaJon Moncayola, the new icon of the Osasuna quarry: "They say that my twins are so big because I spent hours hitting balls on the fronton"

LaLigaFelipe solves the sudoku game in the Metropolitano

LaLigaHugo Duro mortifies Atlético at Mestalla with two goals in added time

See links of interest

• Last News

• Translator

• What

• Holidays 2021

• 2022 business calendar

• Home THE WORLD today

• Master investigative journalism

• Rayo Vallecano - Espanyol

• Lorient - Nantes

• Monaco - Metz

• Montpellier - Clermont

• Reims - Angers