Pressured by doubts, alerted by his recent path, urged by the LaLiga classification, Giuliano Simeone relaunched Atlético de Madrid and Diego Simeone in the Metropolitano against Las Palmas, which he reduced to nothing almost from start to finish, defeated by the connection of the Argentine winger with his compatriot Nahuel Molina and sentenced in the final stretch with the reunion with the rival goal of Alexander Sorloth.
An indispensable triumph. After the infamous first half against Betis or the suffocation, resolved early, last Thursday in the Copa del Rey against Vic, the three points are life, time and tranquility for Atlético, when a duel appears on Wednesday decisive in the Champions League against Paris Saint Germain at the Parc des Princes while Giuliano takes advantage of every opportunity to claim his merits in this team. The crowd rewarded him with a thunderous applause when he was substituted in the final stretch.
Giuliano is dedication, speed and effort. A footballer whose usefulness is evident in this Atlético. The more he plays, the more obvious it becomes. Object of the penalty that avoided blushing last Thursday in the Copa del Rey in Vic, this Sunday he paved the way for an indispensable victory. Because of how LaLiga is going, but also because of all the tranquility it brings. It’s comforting. It also offers time. Necessary. His first goal with the first team.
It is not a superclass, endowed with an expressive technique. But football is much more. It is ambition, commitment, courage, character and competitiveness. Above all, competitiveness. Nobody doubts his, supported by ownership because he has earned it. If against Leganés, his faith in a lost ball was essential to believe and obtain the comeback (3-1), his breaking point, his speed and his definition were equally or more so against Las Palmas.
The other element of the unique and decisive 1-0 combination, back in the 37th minute, was Nahuel Molina. Another player always under doubt, now relocated among the team’s needs as a right center back. His long cross into the race of his compatriot, behind the Las Palmas defense, overwhelmed perhaps too simply, activated the goal, enabling Giuliano in his race against Cillesen, whom he later beat crosswise.
In today’s football, almost everything is analyzed and defined. The goal that unleashed Atlético was not at all fortuitous. Or unique fruit of inspiration. It is a play studied, rehearsed and executed in training on Saturday, the day before, without going any further. It is taking advantage of an opponent’s defect with the combination of one’s own virtues. Much more than a detail. Job.
Until then, Atlético was a team with a ball, without concreteness. He proposed on the wings, Javi Galán launched from the left and Giuliano Simeone from the right, with hardly any accurate shots. Without the punch that he showed then and that Antoine Griezmann later lacked, already at 1-0, frustrated against the crossbar, the home team before the first goal claimed a penalty for a handball by McKenna, which the referee De Burgos Bengoetxea did not see as such not even in the review on the monitor, and was once entrusted to Jan Oblak.
Because, amid Atlético’s dominance, Las Palmas also had its option. The Canarian team, below its rival, more contemplative than active, dedicated to its defense and the counterattack, arose a couple of chances in the opposite field with the appropriate conviction; one with Fabio Silva’s shot that was rejected by the Slovenian goalkeeper, with 0-0. Shock… And relief.
Changed at half-time with Pablo Barrios, fresh from an injury, and Lino, unrecognizable from last year, at Atlético, Las Palmas suffered the injury of their goalkeeper, Jasper Cillesen, already in the second half, immobilized on a stretcher and replaced by a concussion after receiving a blow from Nahuel Molina in a low exit. The goalkeeper continued for a few minutes. Then, dizzy, he demanded a replacement. Minute 58.
Without any scare, Atlético moved towards victory, with some more action from Giuliano, with some maneuver from Correa, with a couple of failed shots from Lenglet and with everything under absolute control that suggested a certain victory, except for the minimum income. Really the only disturbing thing when the duel entered its last quarter of an hour. Las Palmas did not test Oblak from the 20th minute, with Fabio Silva. The only thing he did.
He was not capable of more either with 0-0 or 1-0. Not even in the final stretch, when obligation drives him upwards at least out of pride, to finish in the opposite area, to return to debate, if there ever was one, a victory that always belonged entirely to the red-and-white team and which Alexander Sorloth sentenced, after a great pass from De Paul. The 2-0 in the 83rd minute. The Norwegian attacker needs success and confidence.
– Technical sheet:
2 – Atlético de Madrid: Oblak; Giuliano (Witsel, d. 84), Molina, Giménez, Lenglet, Javi Galán (Reinildo, d. 84); Pablo Barrios (De Paul, d. 46), Koke, Lino (Gallagher, d. 46); Griezmann (Sorloth, m. 64) and Julián Alvarez (Correa, m. 64).
0 – Las Palmas: Cillessen (Dinko Horkas, m. 58); Viti, Álex Suárez (Mika Marmol, m. 82), McKenna, Álex Muñoz; Sandro (McBurnie, m. 64), Essugo, Campaña (Javi Muñoz, m. 64), Kirian (Manu Fuster, m. 87), Moleiro; Fábio Silva (Mata, m. 87).
Goles: 1-0, m. 37: Giuliano Simeone. 2-0, m. 83: Sorloth.
Referee: De Burgos Bengoetxea (Basque Country). He showed a yellow card to Lenglet (m.73) and Viti (m.88).
Incidents: match corresponding to the twelfth day of LaLiga EA Sports played at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano stadium in front of 56,610 spectators. Before the start of the meeting, a minute of silence was observed, with the anthem of the Valencian Community in the background, in memory of those who died due to the floods caused by the Dana.
