Friday, February 18, the meeting that changed the course of Atlético: "It surprised with a very powerful message"

• Chronicle.

  Atlético gallops at Villamarín.

Well spent, two weeks go a long way.

Good to catch up on pending homework or even to pass an exam that, from a distance, is almost perceived as a kind of black hole.

Because (more or less) two weeks ago, Atlético restarted an operating system that had been under suspicion since the fall.

The blush in the Metropolitano against Levante, a team that had only won one game until that glacial night, led to an unexpected red and white catharsis.

This Sunday night, from the lectern of the Benito Villamarín press room,

evoked a moment that could be key in that match against the clock for Atlético: "Dynamics appear and solutions are sought. On behalf of the club there was a great movement after the game against Levante".

It was February 18 and the day before the crucial visit to Pamplona when

, CEO of Atlético, organized a meeting with all the members of the first team.

The players, the coaching staff and all the staff around them attended.

That Friday, the rojiblanco sky was full of clouds because the Champions League, essential for the financial support of the club, looked as badly ironed as two years before, when the pandemic broke out.

"

", those who were present at that summit of Cerro del Espino de Majadahonda remind this newspaper. The message was direct, of course, with more direct appeals than others, with mentions of salaries, but above all of feelings, of what it means for the players themselves not to enter the top four. Gil, who has been in this for many years, jokes with his closest ones about the crash course in psychology that he is having to do. There were mentions of family, friends, life A direct missile to the emotional but, it should be insisted, also with hints of what it meant for their professional careers not to change the 'chip' Nobody replied, they all nodded and proposed a change.

The main conclusion is that the League started again for them.

A 14-day microleague started with only two places to play in the next Champions League, since Real Madrid and Sevilla had been traveling at a different speed.

It was a reinforcement movement, to wrap up the squad and, logically, Simeone, at a time marked by the excessive noise generated by the setbacks.

For the first time since December 2011, names of possible replacements for the Argentine coach were dusted off.

Read, for example,

.

In reality, in the highest offices of the Wanda, no other technician than the current one has ever been thought of, who will not leave until he decides, but the situation was not easy.

RADICAL CHANGE

That Friday, Atlético was sixth.

He was two points away from Real Sociedad, owner of the last place for the Champions League, but sixth.

With the hurricane breath of Villarreal behind him.

With Betis, whom he would unravel 16 days later at Villamarín, four points behind.

The numbers spoke, of course, but, above all, the sensations spoke.

Feeling strange and not recognizing yourself in front of the mirror.

These same players who have chained three wins in a row for the first time in the course, had looked disfigured against that evicted Levante that seemed like a formality.

They say that there have been three weeks of group and individual therapy.

Simeone ate that Friday with Miguel Ángel Gil and

, the sports director, to, as he said, "look at the future from the present."

And now, Atlético sleeps again under the quilt of the Champions League.

Since the conquest of El Sadar, the team has scored eight goals and conceded one, that of Betis

.

Out of necessity has emerged a starring winger like

, a lung like

, who will change Madrid for Houston to, surprisingly, be a figure in the American MLS, a broom like

, who is burying some previous slip, and a sword like

.

In Seville, nobody missed

.

Nor were they shaken by the injuries to

.

Growth in the face of adversity.

Now Sevilla, second, only seven points away, with a visit to the Metropolitan pending for May, does not seem like a utopia.

The takeoff has coincided with the ecstasy of Joao Félix who, before that

, claimed to know what was happening to the team then.

"One of the things that was missing was attitude. We had a bad time and we had to squeeze our asses," he acknowledged after his brace against Betis.

After one of his most stellar nights with Atlético.

In the four games (one in the Champions League) since that blow against Levante, Joao has scored four goals and one assist.

, added Simeone as an epilogue, who merged into a formidable hug on the band with

, Herrera or Reinildo, as if he were one of the squad.

As if he had managed to mend the locker room again, if he ever came undone.

Also, now Old Trafford is seen with very different eyes.

"We have 11 days left," they insist from the club, where that 14-date League has become a challenge.

It all started on a Friday.

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Know more

• soccer

• Atletico Madrid

• Diego Simeon

• joao felix

• HBPR

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