Atlético beats Osasuna without a fight, two blows and two goals

Simeone, like a good Argentine, speaks fluently, but his team's football does not lend itself to preliminaries. Atlético de Madrid does not court rivals, it enters them directly, as if both had matched on Tinder. If you can score without kneading the ball, the better. Two blows, two goals. It's not that he despises possession, make no mistake, it's that he values it as something qualitative, not quantitative.. And there is no better representation of that than Lino.

The Brazilian, with some hesitation in the preseason, has settled into Cholo's eleven on his own merits. He is a buffalo in defense and attack but, when he stops, he has good footing and that is a treasure that Griezmann almost took advantage of in the early stages of the game at the Sadar, as Morata did in the derby last Sunday.

He would do it shortly after, after a cross from the Brazilian that Morata failed to finish.. The Frenchman collected a rebound from Aitor, who is horrible in the play, and finished, almost without an angle and in a semi-miss into the back of the net. As I said, not a bouquet of flowers.

The French is sweet. In fact, he is among the top 5 players in Europe who participates in the most goals for his team.. The one who returned under his jurisdiction was Morata. Those about the mistakes and offsides, and their version was very far from the one shown against Real Madrid on Sunday.

Not so Saúl, whom Simeone praised in the preview, and rightly so.. The youth player has forgotten the star pretensions that brought him to London to return home with the “humility” that the Argentine coach highlighted.. That and the work have made him essential in a red and white midfield plagued by casualties.

Despite everything, and despite criticism from supposed experts and even colleagues, Cholo does appreciate the variants used by other teammates, better considered by this union and more bombastic in their game.. Hermoso, like Stones at Manchester City, stands in attack as a double pivot alongside Koke to help get the ball out. And that helps a lot to a sparsely populated midfield if we take into account that it is only occupied by three natural midfielders.. If he also saves several from Osasuna with providential cuts in defense. From 10.

Simeone's school

Another from Simeone's school is Arrasate. The Osasuna coach, who faces his sixth season on the red bench, has not been able to find the key this year. The team has personality and courage, but lacks success. They had two in the first half, both with direct play.

The first had been three passes until the ball reached Budimir who, when he saw Oblak, it became night. The second would be an individual play by Mojica whose shot at the short post almost dismantled the goal.. Beyond those two, highlight Chimy who, as always, harbored bad intentions but did not have support to attack the red and white goal.

However, his would be the mistake that could have given Osasuna the tie after a great collective play.. The Argentine, alone and without opposition in the athletic area, finished off due to poor body contouring in response to Areso's back pass.. The second part had just begun. It would have been a good psychological blow. And if not, ask Madrid. Two goals in the first five minutes of each half. A slab.

Kill or die

Despite the ruling, Osasuna decided to go out bare chested for the last 45 minutes of the match. They besieged Oblak's goal without the Cholo team being able to cross the middle line with the ball at their feet. The Argentine coach decided to take out Azpilicueta for Molina to shore up the trench in front of the goalkeeper.

The Slovenian, perhaps still stunned by the blow he had with Budimir, was on the verge of making a mistake when he lost a ball out of position that Hermoso had to save in extremis. Then he would redeem himself with a dry finish from Torró. Atlético needed him 100% because Osasuna's harassment grew with the minutes.

Controversy

So much so that he got a big scare in the 75th minute after a corner in the heart of the area that David García finished off without opposition.. Munuera saw a foul in attack, strange to say the least, and disallowed the goal to the frustration of Arrasate who would end up sent off.

On top of Atlético, five minutes later, a counterattack culminated between the two players fighting to replace Carrasco. Lino's pass and Riquelme's goal. Atlético invites you out, but when they have what they want, they send you home with the clothes in a bag. For dessert, several caresses between Morata and Chimy that earned them both a red card, but that's another story.

Atlético thus achieves its eleventh consecutive victory in the League against Osasuna. An impressive streak that brings them closer to the top positions after their six points in a row.