Atlético Madrid continued their impressive home form with a 3-1 win against Levante UD.
An Adrián de la Fuente own goal opened the scoring for the home side, which means they have now scored in their first
12 league matches of the season for the first time since 1982. But Atleti academy product Manu Sánchez headed in an equaliser, completely unmarked from a corner, to send the teams into the break at 1-1.
Antoine Griezmann then scored two goals from the bench in the second half to secure another scrappy win by the same scoreline that we saw in the midweek Champions League match against Union Saint-Gilloise.
Here are Into the Calderón’s player ratings for this one.
Player ratings
Jan Oblak 5: Could the Oblak of old have saved Sánchez’s header? His goals conceded to shots on target faced ratio doesn’t make for good reading so far this season. However, he pulled out a great save to deny Goduine Koyalipou fairly late on.
Marcos Llorente 6: Grabs his third LALIGA assist of the season, breaking behind the defence with a darting run. Made important recoveries to halt Levante counter-attacks, as he always does. Played the last 15 minutes as one of two center-backs, allowing us to tick off yet another position he’s played in.
José María Giménez 4: Ended up being the closest defender to Sánchez as he scored the equaliser, but was more of a collective error than Giménez’s. A great sliding block in the 76th minute to deny Levante from equalising again but then mistimed his tackle on Etta Eyong which led to their ruled-out consolation goal.
Dávid Hancko 4: His ball over the top for Barrios’ early chance was a thing of beauty. Formed part of a defence that did leak a few too many chances for Levante to get their players involved from set pieces. As they say in Spanish, ni fu ni fa today from the Slovakian. Popped over to left-back from the 79th minute onward.
Matteo Ruggeri 3: Third consecutive start for the Italian. He might be needed more now that Robin Le Normand is out injured for a while, which shifts Hancko away from left-back. Doesn’t seem to have made a connection with Baena down the left-hand side yet, and he failed to find a teammate with any of his crosses this evening. It felt like someone lengthened one of his legs by an inch before the match judging by how he was moving. “Clunky” was how Sid Lowe on LALIGA TV described it.
Giuliano Simeone 5: Had a good header well-saved in the 24th minute and a couple of quick shots off the mark in the second half. His best moment was the “pre-assist” for Atlético’s second goal. Formed part of the clogging on the right side of the pitch though and was given an early finish, coming off for fellow Argentine Nico.
Koke 6: Played well alongside three different central partners showing us once again that his career is far from done. Really nothing to fault from the captain.
Pablo Barrios 5: Missed a fantastic chance within the first 10 minutes playing in an extremely advanced position. One of his many first-half runs in behind resulted in the opening goal. Appeared so advanced that perhaps he took up a part of the pitch where Llorente and Giuliano would have preferred to be more often. As soon as he was taken off, Llorente ran into that space and assisted Griezmann.
Álex Baena 6: Given the task of coming in off the left touchline to deliver high balls to Sørloth just wasn’t working. After the two substitutes on 60 minutes, Baena was moved into the center of midfield and instantly made a progressive ball up the pitch which resulted in a goal. Could we see him partner Koke or Barrios in the middle of the park more often? Off on 79 minutes to give Gallagher a run.
Julián Alvarez 5: An enigmatic performance from La Araña, unable to add to his seven league goals. In Griezmann’s second he probably should have had the ball in the back of the net himself before it fell to the Frenchman. Our standards are high for our star player, who of course still did his usual pressing and hard-worked shift. Oddly was voted as the game’s MVP, which I can only assume was done on popularity alone.
Alexander Sørloth 4: Was very involved in the opening phases of the match, but the team’s plan to get the ball on his head just didn’t work. In 30 first-half crosses, he was on the end of one. The team’s shift to on-floor-passes following the Norwegian’s departure only took 30 seconds to produce a goal. A frustrating performance, but not exactly his fault.
Substitutes
Thiago Almada 6: Misplaced only a couple passes and showed off his individual quality by cutting into the centre of the box and uncorking a late shot attempt. Is a player that can unlock these awkward low blocks in a way Ángel Correa used to do so well.
Antoine Griezmann 7: A combined yardage of about eight for his goals, but as easy as they were, someone still needs to score them. The creeping up the 200s continues, and that gorgeous mullet keeps on flowing in his wake.
Nico González 10: Came on to get a bit of blood pumping through the legs, one can assume.
Nahuel Molina 3: Picked up a yellow card five minutes after entering the pitch for a pretty crazy kick in the back on his opponent.
Conor Gallagher 4: Was involved going forward twice shortly after coming on when everyone thought he would play a deeper role. Perhaps his midweek goal has given him a new-found taste for it.
