Atlético gets stuck and falls into Karanka's trap

• Direct Narration and Statistics

It is not always enough with that last breath, with that last breath, to seize the prey.

Atlético, uncomfortable and dense for much of the afternoon, found it impossible to cross the goal of a Granada team that gave Aitor Karanka a smile on his debut.

It is not a new sensation, since it has been the rivals in the lower zone who have generated the most damage and most sleeplessness.

Simeone smelled the victory, who, finally, made his son Giuliano debut, with a blow from

that ended up shaking the post.

And the Metropolitano was emptying with the feeling of having missed an excellent opportunity to tie the Champions.

And that Atlético will sleep second.

If it weren't for the fact that there was a new boy, only 19 years old, living his first afternoon as a starter, the first act in the Metropolitano would have passed him by, like so many others this season.

The one on Sunday against Espanyol, without going any further.

But before the rojiblancas absences (six in total), Simeone resorted to

, who has been at the club since he was seven years old.

The nerves of the premiere weighed on him.

The last time he set foot in the rojiblanco stadium was those brilliant five minutes against Cádiz, in which he ended up being sent off with a direct red card.

Koke ,

mirror, and

were in charge of putting the spinal cord into operation.

The participation of the kid, dedicated to containment work, would conclude at the break.

If not because, as expected, the stands remembered everything that happened these days between

and

, regarding the issue of the Super Cup, regarding that second place in the League, in whose fight Atlético is immersed, the first part would have gone unnoticed.

That old war cry from another decade, another century, was dusted off: "Corruption in the Federation!"

In the absence of football, it was necessary to warm up a frigid April afternoon where, although nobody on the pitch seemed to remember, the ticket for the next Champions League could have been half sealed.

's debut on the Granada bench

, whose Real Madrid past came to light with a resounding initial whistle.

The Andalusian team dropped into the

area with some distant shot and showed a desire to stand up in Madrid.

They did not shy away from the shock, despite a timid start.

Atlético once again trusted a good part of their fate to

's stride and dribbling .

That's where some of the incursions came from.

And

, with the studs nailed to his ankle and the blood on his sock, claimed a penalty that neither Gil Manzano nor the VAR considered as such.

It was one more first part in the Metropolitan.

That is why the matter required surgical measures at rest.

And

appeared , the Uruguayan, with the same nine as the other Luis

Suárez, the Colombian from Granada.

Also

, because

had played with the fire of a second yellow card.

Only with that, Atlético threatened with a change of face that was not such.

lifted the stands with a shot that seemed to uncork the afternoon.

A dose of action that was appreciated, although everything turned out to be a mirage.

Giuliano's premiere

Savic

, who has a habit of moving between orthodoxy, dispatched a break on

that left Simeone petrified.

He could have gotten Atlético into a bigger mess.

The afternoon was not for flourishes or flashes.

It looked, as it happened in part, to be one of those ambushes that the rojiblancos have bitterly savored this season.

The Granada threatened to grow among the red and white thicket.

The clock ran hurriedly due to the drip of falls from the visiting soccer players.

Atlético got a scare until

kissed

's post , when the stands already sensed another of those last blows that are usually dropped by the Metropolitano.

But not even the premiere, in the end, of

, Simeone's young son, who showed up in added time, resolved an uncomfortable (and cold) afternoon for the rojiblancos, who once again tripped over the stone of Granada, their executioner in the first lap.

That they became entangled with another of the teams in the lower zone.

The fight for the Champions League is still far from being resolved.

At least, he already has four cushion points over Betis.

And, things in life, he will sleep second.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

• soccer

• Atletico Madrid

• Granada C.F.