It was a holiday. The sun was shining and people were eager to celebrate.. Also Antoine Griezmann. The smiling Frenchman entered the Metropolitano wearing a Luis Aragonés shirt. An entrance reminiscent of NBA players with special outfits for big games.

The garment said, in addition to the name of the player with whom Grizzie shares the record of goals in the history of Atlético de Madrid with 173: “Win, win and win again”, one of the mottos of the Wise Man of Hortaleza. And that's where Atlético was after the defeat at San Mamés and the draw at home against Getafe.

But the Frenchman did not have any clear chance. Just a couple of shots from outside the area, which narrowly missed the goal defended by Dmitrovic. The Frenchman's smile diminished as the game went on and was completely erased in the 72nd minute.

Söyüncü had just been sent off when he had barely been on the field for five minutes, and Simeone decided that the epic of playing with 10, this time, was not Griezmann's turn.. “I feel responsible for what happened to him.. “He is very tall, very strong and always intends to anticipate and we did not give him the pace he needs,” Simeone commented on the Turk.

The Frenchman opened his arms asking for explanations before beginning his slow walk to leave the field.. He crossed paths with Simeone, who hit him in the chest and, without shaking his hand, went straight to the bench where he kicked a bottle that was in his way.. The tiebreaker with Luis had to wait for another game.

The one who did not want to wait a single appointment to vindicate himself was Rodrigo De Paul. The Argentine, with an extravagant hairstyle, decided to claim the prominence that he claims to have in the Argentine team and played with great hierarchy in the match against Sevilla.

The Argentine was happy about the return of Reinildo Mandava, precisely Griezmann's replacement, 10 months after his last game. “In the locker room he sits next to me, I saw how hard he worked, how many hours in there. It makes me very happy to see how he came back, how people have applauded him.. In this locker room, inside and outside with the fans, we adore him,” he expressed in the post-match interview.

A match in which Atlético returned to winning ways at home after Getafe cut short their streak of 20 consecutive victories at the Metropolitano. “It is a very good year, with 50 games of which we have only lost eight, we have won 34 and I think we have scored 104 goals. Now we have the second part of the season left,” said El Cholo.

The anecdote or negative gesture of the crash came from Sergio Ramos. The Sevilla center-back stepped on the Atlético de Madrid shield when jumping onto the pitch, much to the displeasure of the red and white fans who did not stop whistling at him throughout the match. This action contrasts with that of the Englishman Jude Bellingham who, when he retired after being defeated by the Real Madrid avoided stepping on the flag at the last moment.

Real Madrid no longer advances from victory to victory, they do so from beating to beating, in a terrible habit for their rivals. Not even fatigue has a dent in Chus Mateo's men, who accumulate trips, games and triumphs in a spectacular succession. Joventut was the latest victim of a week in which they had already fleeced Estrella Roja and Partizan. [73-101: Narration and statistics]

No victory by less than 14 points. Conceding little and scoring a lot, more than 100 at the Olímpic, on a powerful and spectacular afternoon, against a team that is in the middle of a battle to qualify for the next Copa del Rey in Málaga and that arrived after seven wins in a row. Real Madrid, very solid, remains at the top in Europe and in the Endesa League. He still has two games left to close the year, Asvel and Valencia.

In Badalona he performed again without Deck (an absence in the four that joins Yabusele) and also without the magician Sergio Rodríguez. But Mateo always has a soldier ready to step forward.. Very early he began to open the gap in the Olímpic, dominating the rebound and running, a deadly combination if they let Madrid.

Halfway through the second act, the green-blacks were already staggering, unable to advance in the face of the gale.. To all its virtues, Madrid combined success, devastating from the perimeter. At half-time he had already accumulated 10 triples from 21 attempts, especially effective Mario Hezonja who has lived in the clouds in recent weeks. A triple from the Croatian made it +21 in less than 19 minutes (32-53).

But Hezonja is an angel and a demon. On an afternoon without much tension, a protest ended with his expulsion. He got tangled with the referees in the last play of the first half and a double technique, the second already in the locker room tunnel, prevented him from continuing with his show at the Olímpic: he accumulated 14 points, four triples and six rebounds.

Moment of Hezonja's expulsion. Quique García EFE

It was a small spring for Penya, who with the free throws got a little closer to the return. A mirage. The white response was even more forceful. A run of 2-16, four more triples along the way, to leave everything ready for judgment with still a quarter of an hour to play.

At that point, the whites had accumulated 14 triples, above 50% success rate. As if someone had widened their hoops. They continued to advance in steamroller mode, with reliable minutes for Carlos Alocén (the only one with over 20 minutes on the court), Eli Ndiaye (nine points, four rebounds, two blocks) and the youth squad Hugo González (more than six minutes of play and four points) and advantages that exceeded thirty.

The athletes wanted a red-and-white Christmas. They did it from a tifo in the south end and so did the 50,000 fans who, wearing Santa's hats, cheered on their team this Christmas Eve. The sun was shining on the last event of the year, very different weather than the one that forced the match to be moved from that rainy day 4. The weather changed and the sensations changed. Who knows if the responsibility lies with the duende that the great Antonio Agredano wrote about. But this Atlético hasn't changed either and continues to be a rock at home. [Narrative and Statistics, 1-0]

The goblin was traveling at breakneck speed between the two areas. Little defense and a lot of attack. Five minutes and a good chance for the team, although the home team pushed harder, especially on Riquelme's side. The youth player travels at a different speed, sometimes excessive, and that confuses him.

Sevilla, on the other hand, has decided to limit the enormous irresponsibility that confused them in their own field. And, it seems like a lie, but sometimes you don't need much more to get out of the compromised situation in which the team had been left.. Just four points above relegation. Quique Sánchez Flores knows about resurrections.

As the block that the Sevilla coach put in had to be chewed, Griezmann decided to try to send shells from outside the area. Someone was on the verge of surprising Dmitrovic. Morata, for his part, tried to run or attack the far post, but the vigilance of Gudelj and the good work of the Serbian goalkeeper managed to keep the score immaculate for Sevilla.

Although, if there is a footballer who has claimed that elf for himself, it is Rodrigo De Paul, and we are not talking about his tremendous braids.. After his claim regarding the importance he has in Argentina and in Atlético, the red and white five played one of his best games this season. It is always good to demonstrate things with actions and not with words, and even more so if you are a pupil of Simeone, a coach with whom no effort can be bargained with.

Morata fighting for a ball. Borja Sanchez-Trillo EFE

Many things could be said about Llorente, but his effort, whether he plays well or badly, is not in doubt.. Thus, the hardworking red and white midfielder worked hard to catch a through pass from Koke, crossed, Ramos repelled in his direction and on the 14th he took advantage of the gift to put the first on the scoreboard. Now that is entering a field with an elf. At the points, the goal fell on the side that had to fall.

The goal sank Atlético a little and caused Sevilla to advance. In the next 10 minutes, the Seville players stepped into the red-and-white area more times than in the rest of the game. Ocampos, Óliver and En Nesyri threatened, without luck, Oblak's goal, but the feelings had changed in this second half and Söyüncü wanted to add more spice to the game.

Expulsion

The Turk had not been on the field for even five minutes when he committed the same imprudence as Nacho against Alavés, red from the book and once again rowing with 10 in the Metropolitan. Only this time, without Griezmann. The Frenchman was the one chosen by the Argentine to leave the field for Reinildo's return. He didn't like it, and he took it upon himself to show it not only to his coach, but also to the entire stadium with several gestures of disgust.. The siege returned at home.

However, the game became confused and became angry.. Quite the opposite of that in the duel against Getafe, which favored the rojiblancos' interests.. Fewer productive things happened for Sevilla when they played against 10 than against 11, a Seville demerit. So, although this Sevilla is another Sevilla, this Atlético is the same Atlético. Solid at home, where they have not lost this season. And it is not small thing.

The Christmas gift of cycling came to us packaged in Antwerp. For the first time in the 2023-24 cyclocross season, the so-called Three Tenors of the specialty coincided: Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Thomas Pidcock. There was a lack of emotion. Van der Poel, first at the finish line, took a stroll. Van Aert, second, a hot flash. And Pidcock, eighth, was upset.

The expectation was maximum. The three, in their seasonal debut, had already tasted victory in previous races. Van der Poel's story in Antwerp had no more history than his own, than the one he wrote, half pedaling, half running, half rider, half infantryman. In that sense, in the absence of fighting, the race was disappointing. However, enjoying the quality of the Dutchman and the majesty of his flight at ground level, grass, sand, justifies any time spent in situ or in front of the television..

At the start, Van Aert's pedal failed. A few meters ahead, Pidcock was pushed and fell. Van der Poel was involved in the scene as a witness forced to stop. The three lost numerous positions and the need to overcome a circuit, according to the canons, narrow, winding, always subject to hammered mishaps, raised something similar to uncertainty. Or the desire to experience it. Nothing of that. Van der Poel came back effortlessly, by inertia.

Halfway through the third of eight laps he took the lead. Once in it, he pressed and the story was over. The same inertia that led him to victory led Van Aert to leave the chasing pack, ultimately overtake Eli Iserbyt, one of those pure specialists, and finish 29 seconds behind Van der Poel, who in the last stages of the test he took it easy.

Further back, Felipe Orts, twelfth, complied. Van der Poel put forward his best preparation, aimed at the World Cup. The other two focus theirs thinking about the 2024 route. The trio will meet five more times this season. On the 26th of this month in Gavere. On the 30th, in Hulst. On January 4, in Kooksjde. The 7th, in Zonhoven. And on the 21st, in Benidorm.

A day after the Court of Justice of the European Union declared itself in favor of the Super League project, the German newspaper Wel Am Sonntag anticipates that FC Barcelona could be expelled from the 2024-25 Champions League for alleged violations of the financial regulations of the UEFA

“UEFA had already sentenced Barcelona to a fine of 500,000 euros in the summer. The association's financial control chamber concluded at the time that the club had incorrectly declared profits from the sale of intangible assets that did not constitute relevant income,” Welt opens.

Although FC Barcelona presented a profit of 304 million euros on October 21, the German newspaper states that these data do not correspond to UEFA's economic regulations, because only operations that derive directly from the club's business can be computed. football, and not because of the levers that the club used to clean up its accounts.

The German newspaper also assures that there is talk in UEFA that the punishment could even be “for two or three years” and that “the greater the loss, the greater the penalty.”