Atlético Madrid, fielding a strong but tired team, got through an organised Deportivo A Coruña 1-0 at the Estadio Metropolitano on Saturday night.
Julián Alvarez scored the game’s only goal, with an effort barely two minutes after the restart. The interval prompted Diego Simeone to make a couple of key tactical changes that benefitted the team, after a first-half display similar to the one seen away at Stuttgart in midweek.
Depor were unlucky not to score with the last kick of the match, as José María
Giménez returned to rapturous support from the Atleti crowd.
Here are Into the Calderón’s player ratings for this marginal but important win.
Player ratings
Jan Oblak: A good Atlético Madrid season always has a couple of key ingredients. One of those is a world-class Oblak in between the posts, which we are currently getting treated to game after game. He made a great recovery save in first half after having to parry a dangerous free-kick, and was quick to react to the chance right at the death which had colchonero hearts around the world skip a beat. 8
Marcos Llorente: If there was anything at fault from his performance tonight, it certainly passed me by. Yet at the same time there wasn’t necessarily anything that stood out which I suppose is a sign of someone who will put out a 6/10 sort of performance on his very worst day, and constantly be a beacon of consistency. I won’t complain about anyone like that on my team. 7
Marc Pubill: It was the second consecutive unconvincing first half that the young defender has displayed this week, making a few mistakes that led to some dangerous situations for the visitors. Moved over to the right for the second period, Pubill was much improved and his class ended up coming through. 6
Dávid Hancko: The word that came into my mind on a number of occasions tonight when watching the Slovakian was ‘marshal’. Someone that takes command of his space and looks assured whilst doing so — a lot like a certain Uruguayan playing on the opposite side used to do at Atleti. It was reassuring to see Hancko reignited his link up with Alexander Sørloth by using his wand of a left foot down the channel. 7
Alejandro Grimaldo: It was a good job that the heavy knock Grimaldo took to the knee in the first half didn’t result in his substitution, as the pass he delivered for Julián’s goal can only really come off his boot when looking at the rest of the team in that position of the pitch. Made the left wing his own in the second half with Ademola Lookman going off at the break. 7
Morten Hjulmand: Since his clumsy tackle that earned him a red card in midweek, I’ve started to see Hjulmand in a different light. A light that shines a shade of unconvincing, and one that had the 68,000 fans inside the Metropolitano showing their feelings of frustration by the end. I suppose he did enough, but having Koke and Johnny Cardoso back will surely see him head down the pecking order. 5
Pablo Barrios: At a guess, when someone knows they are good at football, and are usually one of the better players on the pitch, they feel an obligation to constantly perform at a high level and be the one to make things happen in each match. Barrios felt a little bit agitated tonight, in the sense that he overplayed in many situations, and ended up looking worse for it. He was also given a stern talking to by Oblak after being non-committal when defending a dangerous free-kick. The midfielder was taken off at half time, and probably needs to take some pressure off himself. 4
Kang-in Lee: A match of moments from the Korean tonight. He showed some great feet inside the penalty area before shooting over with his weaker right foot on 36 minutes, and a minute later found himself on his favoured left but could only do the same thing with his effort. In the absence of first-half structure, he was often acting as a right wing-back, closely marking the offensive-minded Depor full-backs. The tactical shift allowed him more of a free role after the break, but he was unable to do anything of note before his 67th-minute substitution. 5
Álex Baena: It appeared that he was one who massively benefited from the mid-point tactical switch, being used in his favoured left-sided role for the second half. Although he wears the number 10, Baena doesn’t convince when in that space directly behind the striker, and was much more comfortable when playing adrift. My one point of note would be that his shooting was off tonight, but given his contributions already this season, I suppose we can let him off the hook for one game. 6
Ademola Lookman: I’m starting to feel sorry for Lookman as he is clearly a great player that can make key contributions in big matches, yet I still don’t quite see his role within in the team. Baena and Grimaldo seem to fit better on the left side of the pitch, meaning that when the Nigerian does get minutes, he’s often used as a striker, as he was in the first half tonight. Off at half time. 4
Julián Alvarez: Love him or hate him, la araña just is quite good at football. It’s two goals in as many games, but more importantly, is starting to look more at home back in an Atlético shirt. He is probably the closest thing Atleti have to a ‘jinky’ player, in the way he skips over the onrushing feet that aim to sweep the ball out of his possession. His goal was met with some whistles but mostly applause, there is work still to do for Alvarez. I still feel uneasy about giving him anything higher than a seven. Poco a poco. 7
Substitutes
Giuliano Simeone: He’s such a little rat bag, but thankfully for us, he’s our little rat bag. Added another dimension to the match when he came on at half time, and his ‘clever’ manner of winning free-kicks in the defensive half of the pitch was useful when the team needed the pressure relieved. 7
Robin Le Normand: We have to give credit where it’s due — Le Normand played a solid 45 minutes tonight. More performances like this will help his cause to bridge the gap in the team when Cuti Romero is unavailable. 7
Alexander Sørloth: It’s great to see the Norwegian with some more minutes under his belt, and quality minutes at that. Sørloth showed some great hold-up play, combining well with the other attackers around him, as well as creating something from nothing all by himself at one point. A goal would be the cherry on the top of his return to fitness. 7
Rodrigo Mendoza: In 10 minutes there wasn’t much of note from the youngster, aside from a wayward shot and an important tackle on Yeremay inside the area in stoppage time. 5
