The corner has not been properly turned.
Atlético Madrid settled for a draw at Estadio Balaidos despite looking comfortable and composed for the majority of the first half. They found themselves 1-0 up after six minutes after an unavoidable Carl Starfelt own goal came via a well-worked move. However, everything changed when a careless Clément Lenglet red card threw Atlético into a difficult situation.
From that moment, Atlético sat deep and tried to soak up wave after wave of Celta pressure, which
they were kinda already doing anyway. And in what has become the team’s norm, Atlético were not strong enough defensively to hold out, and the Colchoneros eventually surrendered the lead when a whipped Óscar Mingueza cross caused havoc in the area and led to Iago Aspas tapping in, after Jan Oblak did well to keep out the initial shot.
Here are Into the Calderón’s ratings, as we’re back to the same old story again:
Player Ratings
Jan Oblak – 6: Made some good saves to keep Borja Iglesias at bay in the first half, and almost kept out the Celta equaliser. Was also good with his distribution. Yet again I find myself thinking he was unlucky not to keep a clean sheet.
Marcos Llorente – 5: Bombed down the right wing when he could, and made the usual timely defensive interventions using his acceleration. But these moments also raise questions about his defensive positioning and marking, which were a bit AWOL today. Borja Iglesias should have punished him in the opening minutes with a point-blank header.
Robin Le Normand – 5: Spent what seemed like half of the game wrestling with Iglesias and the big striker never really stopped causing problems. Crucially lost his duel with him during the moment in which Celta equalised. But he was a constant threat from set pieces at the other end.
Clément Lenglet – 1: This has to stop. This is the one selection issue Diego Simeone keeps causing; now he will be forced to address it, with Lenglet suspended for the Osasuna game in two weeks. It does not matter at this point what the alternative options are in left-back and left-centre back; it is clear there are less self-destructive options. Lenglet lazily hauled down Ferran Jutglà at the halfway line for his first yellow, then recklessly hauled him down again after losing possession to him for the second yellow. Mind-boggling.
Dávid Hancko – 6: Looked very threatening and competent with the ball at his feet in left-back in the first half, was then moved to LCB in the second half where he activated the more physical aspect of his game to sniff out danger and clear it from the box. Perhaps could have better anticipated the cross which led to Celta’s goal.
Giuliano Simeone – 5: Stifled and muted offensively, and this only became more pronounced in the second half as he was pushed back even further due to the red card. He seemed too easily predictable but still put in a shift.
Pablo Barrios – 7: Really lively and mature display from the young Spaniard, who was constantly engaged in sprints to get in behind, or to recover the ball. Lodged in between these actions were moments of intricate passing. He was everywhere, and it was his dangerous pass that was accidentally prodded into the net by Starfelt.
Koke – 7: A few sloppy passes but then a lot more brilliant passes to make up for it. At this point in his career, he almost seems immune from having a bad game. Or his bad games are so layered in wisdom and knowhow that I don’t even see it. He worked tremendously hard for a player of his age, but of course he needed to be substituted as a result.
Nico Gonzalez- 6: Worked hard defensively and made some really smart and penetrative runs. Also more effective and composed in central areas than expected. Eventually finished the game at left-back and generally looked like he carried real flair this game, so it’s a shame he ended up camped in and around the edge of the box.
Julián Alvarez – 6: More lethargic than usual, and it’s probably to be expected. Has given his heart and soul for Atleti in recent weeks and today he seemed jaded for it. He still managed to perform some nice link-up play and wicked corner deliveries. Eventually substituted and in fairness did not look like threatening the Celta goal anytime soon.
Antoine Griezmann – 7: A real shame he had to be sacrificed. Was thriving in the half-spaces as Celta afforded him space between the lines time and time again in the first half. Played the crucial through ball for Barrios with a delightful prod around the corner, and also played a superb through ball to Hancko to break the hosts’ low block.
Substitutions
Javi Galán – 5: Replaced Antoine Griezmann at half-time as Simeone looked to sure up the defence. Was then hooked himself about 25 minutes later as Simeone shuffled his cards once again. I have taken this as a cue of his effectiveness but in fairness I did not see any glaring issues with his performance under difficult circumstances and he always seems to get a hard time from Simeone anyway.
Connor Gallagher – 5: Replaced Koke in the 75th minute. Ran about and tried to tackle a lot.
Álex Baena 5: Replaced Galán in the 76th minute as Simeone tinkered, and this suffer-ball game state was never going to result in his best assets shining. He was fairly anonymous, and more minutes in the legs is the main takeaway.
Nahuel Molina – 5: Replaced Giuliano Simeone in the 80th minute and became just another body at the back. He did that well.
Alexander Sørloth – 4: Replaced Alvarez in the 80th minute which signalled the last roll of the dice. Presumably brought on to help hold up the ball but failed to do so in almost every instance.
