Atletico was not satisfied with a draw. He wanted to add his eleventh game without losing, a streak that assures him a Champions League position and that scares away doubts. He chased Betis, tried to wrinkle it without luck and did not give up. If plan A didn't work, there was still an option for B. Simeone looks at the bench and knows he always has a bullet. 14 has used this season to amend or open choking games. 14 goals that have come from substitutes. Once again it was Correa who made it. The Argentine boasts of the condition of revulsive. It was enabled by Griezmann, fought to take the ball between a thousand rebounds and achieved a goal that does justice to the effort.

Atletico doesn't like noise. With the constant rumble he stuns, doubts and his football gets tangled. Only from serenity is he able to bring out talent and Simeone's mind is cleared to flee from small team experiments. They can win and they can lose, but they are once again a recognizable and, above all, reliable team. Every day a little more.

The rojiblancos have buried debates that weighed them down at the beginning of this season, fattened by the sentence to only play with Griezmann half an hour, the eternal dilemma with Joao Felix and the conscience of perhaps Simeone would not be eternal. All that left a disappointing Champions League elimination and an insurmountable distance in the fight for the League, but of that image there is little left. The team shook it off as soon as the Frenchman returned from Qatar with the gallons of command. Griezmann and ten more to start adding victories, points and recovering the faith of the Metropolitan. Only a defeat in 2023, against Barça gives an idea of the transformation, visible in points, but also in sensations.

Against Betis without the compass of Canales, sanctioned, and with the ballast never having won Simeone, the rojiblancos did not hesitate to command. Although Borja Iglesias had two timid chances to unsettle Oblak, the game was overturned in the Sevillian area. Two clear chances had the Frenchman, striving to do everything and very present in the goal zone, but Betis were very clear about the plan and barely let him breathe when he stepped on the danger zone. Pellegrini trusted everything to tie the rojiblancos, in it he put Guido and Carvalho, and spin a counter that between Ayoze and Iglesias managed to put them in advantage. Atlético was maturing the duel with the same intensity that the verdiblancos embittered him.

With no ability to open the scoring in the first half, in the second there was less respect. The first warning was given by Giménez crashing a headbutt into the crossbar. Again the Metropolitano leaned towards the visiting goal and Rui Silva had to strive to save a cross shot from Carrasco.

El Cholo had already sought more control with De Paul and more gunpowder with Correa, to which Pellegrini responded by using Joaquín and Juanmi. The pulse was going to be maintained. It was the veteran captain who leaked a pass to Miranda to Savic's back that was the best chance to bética. It was difficult for them to get out of the red-and-white pressure, but they were willing to take advantage of the extra lives that an opponent with little freshness in the area was leaving them. His way of growing was in the band with Ruibal and the fast Luis Henrique, and what, with mischief, Joaquin could find. It was a matter of taking advantage of the spaces that Carrasco and Llorente asked to leave.

Atletico settled in the green-and-white area but their only goal, from Koke, came offside. He could not find a way to beat Rui Silva before the great defensive task that Pellegrini designed. However, Correa finished with a stumbling goal that strengthens the team on the podium on the podium of the League. Atletico will not suffer to return to be among the best in Europe one more season, something it needs for sporting and economic level, but it can still afford the dream of, if Real Madrid trained with the fight for the Champions League gets stuck, who knows whether to finish second in the championship.

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  • Atletico Madrid
  • Real Betis Balompié
  • Diego Simeone
  • Antoine Griezmann