Direct That was the game
To arreones, with phases of fear followed by others of impudence.
With flashes of genius accompanied by improper mistakes.
With a result born of two lethal counters in which he did not fail.
Atlético
survived
in the Ciutat de València against
Levante
and their ghosts, those that in the League grip them even when the wind and score are in their favour.
They also appeared in the
Copa del Rey
as soon as he had time to exorcise them.
[Narration and statistics]
Simeone
transmitted with his starting eleven that he did not want to suffer.
Levante is a rival that choked more than once in the First Division and Ciutat de València is an uncomfortable field for the rojiblancos.
This time the Argentine could not allow himself to increase doubts by stumbling over a Second, no matter how much he is a firm candidate for promotion and a team on a roll that does not allow itself to be tamed.
Of the much that he has, the Argentine saved something and, even so, for many minutes it was not enough.
Atlético drifted for too long.
Imprecise, thick, with no spaces for
Griezmann
, with
Morata
invisible and reduced.
Kondogbia
and
De Paul
accumulated losses and bad decisions, becoming a black hole that carpeted the midfield for
Pepelu
and Pablo Martínez.
Llorente
and
Barrios
, on the banks, came upside down.
Levante, quick in withdrawing and at the start, short-circuited the rojiblancos.
Simeone's team held up because his rival lacked spark in the shot.
De Frutos scored and was canceled due to
Bouldini
's previous foul on Oblak, while the long shots from the Moroccan and Pablo Martínez missed the target.
Levante was growing so much that Simeone moved his pawns.
He took Griezmann off the wing, passed Marcos Llorente along with Morata and let Barrios return to his natural place to shore up the midfield.
strap, the spark
Back from the locker room, Correa
peppered that idea
and suffocated the granotas until the goal appeared.
Savic, with high pressure, saved and handed it over to Correa to look for Llorente in the race.
His cross to the far post was sent by
Morata
to the back of the net.
The scorer still had another one-on-one with Robert Pier before he left the field and Correa forced Femenías to shine from point-blank range and with a long shot.
It seemed that Atlético was stretching and was closer to closing the pass, but also that it was a mirage because, with the score in their favour, they trembled again.
Simeone saw it and, while Calleja made use of his artillery, the Argentine raised walls in the midfield to prevent his team from huddling too close to his area.
Levante smelled that fear and launched with more impetus than success.
Calleja had nothing to lose, he was unprotected and the game turned into a duel of blows in which Levante paid for their mistakes.
Already in added time, from a loss Llorente launched an infinite ride to deceive and beat
Femenías
and close a suffered match.
Atlético's ball will be in the hype of the quarterfinals, but also doubts.
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