• Signing Nahuel Molina, the '2' that Simeone longed for to free Atlético

With two weeks and three games less to go in this preseason, Atlético de Madrid not only appeased Manchester United, which they reduced to a lesser expression in attack as soon as they got over the first few minutes of insecurity and adjusted on the pitch of the Ullevaal stadium in Oslo, but also defeated him through

Joao Félix

, whose restart was conclusive (1-0).

His goal in the 86th minute - two touches with the right to connect a third, the shot, from outside the area, far from the reach of

David de Gea

- expressed the determination of a footballer whose definitive explosion is still awaited, but of which nobody doubts his conditions and his talent to be everything he wants.

It is on it.

He has shown phases of the incontestable football of him in three years.

He needs to enlarge it constantly to be even better.

Because it is.

Outside of the first friendly, last Wednesday in El Burgo de Osma (0-4 victory against Numancia), because he did not join the group's workload until the middle of last week, due to a blow suffered in the early stages of summer preparation, this Saturday he reappeared in the 58th minute to be the protagonist of Atlético's meritorious triumph, which defeated a team that adds much more preparation and that has its debut in the 'Premier' just a week away.

A game with tension

United began the preseason on June 27.

The rojiblanco team, on July 10.

He has also played three more preparation games than him.

Not even such an advantage was an excuse for Atlético, whose players had barely covered 45 minutes of play before this match, in the distribution of one time for each last Wednesday.

The game was not a friendly to use.

The pace, the tension (there was even a hint of tangana due to an ugly gesture with

McTominay

's elbow to prevent the exit of

Jan Oblak

, who then left his leg, or the final expulsion of

Fred

), the infractions and the ambition of the two blocks revealed that it was not a simple summer meeting.

The competitive spirit of both does not admit average terms.

And much less, Simeone

's Atlético

.

In the ups and downs of the preseason, Atlético capsized at the beginning, when United cornered them in the first moments with the almost consecutive chances of

Rashford

(the winger beat debutant

Nahuel Molina

at times , who suffered behind him at the beginning although he also demonstrated his good footing and his interesting offensive vision);

Martial

(his action called into question the concentration in the first minutes of Giménez, who lost his way in a rebound that was nothing more than his) or

Lindelof

, with a header, which already triggered the alarms in Simeone, alerted by the vulnerability that his equipment.

Armed at the rear, with a step back from Carrasco to collaborate with

Reinildo

on the left wing, Atlético grew stronger moment by moment, without being all that it intended, but also without exposing itself so much to United's attacks, which it turned off immediate.

He did not try Oblak again until the edge of the break, through Elanga in another space between the red and white defense that would be unthinkable within the competition.

He just did it later in the second half.

pending subjects

But he has work - and still two weeks - Simeone in his defense.

The stopped ball against him put him in check a few times, like many moments last season.

And the exit of the ball from behind still describes difficulties.

There is also work to be done in attack, even though Joao Félix was incontestable with his goal.

His team did not shoot on goal in the entire first half.

There were two auctions:

Correa

and

Kondogbia

.

Both of you out.

Also some action at the beginning of the second half by Matheus Cunha, before leaving his place, like the entire starting eleven except Reinildo and Oblak, to

Sergio Díez

,

Wass

(right central),

Witsel

and Saúl, in the defense of five, next to Reinildo;

Griezmann

,

Koke

,

De Paul

and Joao Félix, in midfield;

and

Morata

, in the lead.

Atlético did not suffer, despite the circumstances of that eleven, with several players out of their most natural position or with an unexpected center of defense formed by Wass-Witsel-Reinildo, but with United (

Eriksen

made his debut in the minute 68) frustrated as before;

not only that, but also bent.

It wasn't before because Saúl finished off a cross from Joao Félix, who, in the 86th minute, grabbed the ball, touched the ball three times and signed the Atlético victory... Also United's first summer defeat.

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  • Saul Niguez

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