Shortly after the hour mark in Saturday’s Copa del Rey final, Diego Simeone raised a lot of eyebrows when he substituted Ademola Lookman in a double change that altered Atlético de Madrid’s attacking dynamics. The dangerous Lookman — who had equalized in the 19th minute after Ander Barrenetxea’s very early opener — had been giving Real Sociedad’s Jon Aramburu fits on the left flank, and his exit saw Atlético play more centrally around a fixed central presence in Alexander Sørloth while Julián Alvarez
floated behind him.
The strategy somewhat paid off as Alvarez scored an 83rd-minute equalizer to take the final to extra time. But Atleti lost the final on penalties, which led to second-guessing and withering criticism as the Rojiblancos’ Copa del Rey drought extended to at least another year.
We know now though why Simeone removed arguably his most lethal attacker only halfway through the 120-minute marathon final.
According to Marca, tests on Monday revealed that Lookman has some swelling in his adductor after he felt a sharp thigh pain during the final. Lookman will miss at least a week, a stretch encompassing Atlético’s next two league games, at Elche and home to Athletic Club. Next Wednesday, Atleti host Arsenal in the first leg of a UEFA Champions League semifinal tie, and it is uncertain whether the star forward will be fit for a clash that now goes some way toward defining the Rojiblancos’ season.
Alexander Sørloth also suffered an injury during Saturday’s game in Sevilla. The big Norwegian has a contusion that will keep him out of the next two league fixtures, but he should be fit to face Arsenal. In any case, Sørloth and Lookman will be held out of team training for the next few days as the medical staff exercises “maximum caution” with both attackers.
Finally, Marcos Llorente was subbed off in extra time due to exhaustion; fortunately, Marca’s report adds that the Spain international has no injury, and he should be fit to participate in the upcoming league matches before the Arsenal tie begins.
Right as Cholo Simeone welcomes back Pablo Barrios, he suffers the blow of losing Lookman, who has scored seven goals and provided three assists since he joined Atlético in February. Simeone has been criticized for his handling of Lookman; some fans have insisted that the coach doesn’t like the player, who has played more than 70 minutes in only two of his 18 appearances to date and has never exceeded the 78 minutes he received in his goalscoring debut at Real Betis in February.
However, LaLiga has been on the back burner for Atlético since Lookman arrived, as all of the team’s energy had been focused on the cup competitions. Additionally, Lookman got off to a slow start this season, hardly playing before October as he became embroiled in a dispute with former club Atalanta over a failed transfer to Inter Milan last summer. It is more than possible that Lookman hasn’t been fully fit all season, despite his starring role for Nigeria at AFCON during the winter.
I think Simeone has been trying to monitor Lookman’s minutes, just as he was with Barrios until the star midfielder suffered the first of two successive muscle injuries on Feb. 5. But even the best-laid plans sometimes don’t pay off.
