In the first game back after an international break that seemed to have no ending, Atlético Madrid exorcised their Mendizorrotza ghosts and overcame Deportivo Alavés on Saturday afternoon.
Alejandro Grimaldo put Atleti ahead with his third goal of the season before Robin Le Normand renewed his liability licence, conceding a penalty on the stroke of half time which was converted by Lucas Boyé.
As the game looked to be heading toward an uninspiring ending, and with Alavés down to ten men, Cristian Romero
popped up at the back post to nod the visitors to victory late on. He was gifted a cross from the heavens (the outside of Álex Baena’s boot) and scored his first of hopefully many goals for his new club.
Here are Into the Calderón’s key takeaways from this one.
‘El Cuti’ proving his worth (to me)
When Romero decided to take the task of scoring the winning goal upon himself in the 87th minute by strolling into striker’s position and showing the movement of a typical number nine, my first thought was naturally all about the team picking up a valuable three points on the road.
But when the dust settled and the mind was allowed to wander after a taking a glimpse at the LALIGA table, I couldn’t help but selfishly give the ego a little boost.
You see, I’ve spent the last few weeks in intense debate with Anglo-centric Premier League heads that believe the only reason Cuti has been any good for Atleti is due to the lower standard of football in Spain compared to England. Instead of watching the man play (and notice what he’s achieved for his national side), they choose to focus on the English team he played for, using their results to base judgement without considering that as the very reason why he might not have performed, in their opinion.
However, his time as Tottenham Hotspur captain gave clues showing that this late goal wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Last season, he scored two goals in the 90th minute or later to save points for Spurs, including an overhead kick against Newcastle to salvage a 2-2 draw.
My other personal win from Romero’s goal was the further validation he gave my prediction at the start of the campaign that he would be Atlético’s player of the season. He has provided a structure to the backline that has been missing for the past two years, and he will be a huge influence on Marc Pubill’s development as a defender. He doesn’t need to be wearing the captain’s armband to prove he is a leader; his marshalling of the line between the defence and midfield is reminiscent of José María Giménez’s when he was at his very best for Atleti.
However, not even a back four containing Paolo Maldini and Franz Beckenbauer would be able to stop Le Normand cosplaying an NFL edge rusher.
Lookman bad but good
There was a clear weak link in the team’s first-half display, and it came in the shape of a Nigerian left-winger.
Ademola Lookman’s actions on the ball had the ESPN Deportes commentators referring to him as “imprecise” on a number of occasions. However, his imprecision was a negative result of positive play by the team, in my opinion. Leaving him 1v1 with a full-back to run at is his dream, and he was presented with that opportunity on more than one occasion. The team found him in those dangerous situations but Lookman had an off day and Alavés’ Nahuel Tenaglia was able to keep him pocketed — he had a great first half.
A yellow card for standing on an opposition’s foot (for those who believe he should have been sent off, notice the key word of ‘standing’ which implies that he did not lunge in recklessly, like Ángel Pérez did in the second half) didn’t help his cause of staying on the pitch after the break, and many took to social media to ridicule his performance.
But in all honesty, it wasn’t anything exceptionally bad or worthy get ourselves worried about for a first appearance after a three-week international break for a country that has a fair bit of travel (and serious institutional concerns). Plus, when actually looking at the numbers, he completed 16/18 passes. It’s true that the moments of inaccuracy came as the team looked to be developing promising attacks, but I think we can cut the player some slack — for now.
What wouldn’t have done Lookman any favours is the way Álex Baena came onto the pitch in his position. The completely rejuvenated post-World Cup version of Baena continues to bear fruits, and Diego Simeone will have a hard time leaving him out of the starting lineup when faced with a fully fit squad. The quality of pass to set up Romero’s late winner was described by Ruairidh Barlow on X.com as “the sort of pass Griezmann would come up with for Atleti when they needed it.”
Mini-takeaways
- We’re at the point of preferring Dani Martínez in defence over Le Normand. No matter how many times he gets penalised for it, he continues to wrestle opponents to the ground at set pieces and it’s proving costly time and again.
- Pablo Barrios having the protection of Koke and Johnny Cardoso behind him gives him the liberty to dance about the pitch like a kid playing GTA with no sense of real-world danger. It’s a shame we can only get an hour of him at a time, though.
- Marcos Llorente’s drag back and flick while in possession of the ball in his own half shows just how much self belief that man pertains. So cold.
- Julián Alvarez really needs a goal. Like so badly.
