Míchel, the Girona coach, already warned in the preview that this Monday they were facing the fittest team in the League, and Simeone’s men agreed with him by chaining their ninth game without losing. Now, on this occasion, Atlético added the three points in extremis, thanks to a solitary goal from Morata in added time that had to be validated by VAR.
Both the ones and the others went out onto the pitch with a predictable eleven. In the case of the people from Girona, with the return of David López and Miguel Gutiérrez to the defensive line, while with respect to the people of Madrid, with a single change from the one who thrashed against Sevilla on the last day, with the entry of Nahuel Molina for Witsel.
The match started very open, with a very high pace of play and with a slight dominance by the locals who in the first quarter of an hour approached the area around Oblak with more danger. In any case, it was the colchoneros, through Griezmann, who enjoyed the first clear chance, although his shot was too focused. Before half an hour, Griezmann himself gained the back of the Girona defense and crossed a ball from the left that Memphis, all by himself, finished acrobatically over the crossbar. And Mario Hermoso still had another from a corner but his header also went wide.
And in this way, little by little, almost as if by inertia, Atlético was gaining ground in a Girona that came to half-time running after the ball and trying to create danger only on the counterattack.
Going through the locker room did not change the dynamics despite the fact that a convoluted play inside the local area, as soon as it started, again broke the rhythm of the game. The mattresses complained about some hands from Oriol Romeu and although initially Melero López did not see anything, González González made him check from the VAR – the same one that had been the protagonist 24 hours before also as the person in charge of the video arbitration of the Barça match in San Mamés– . But the Andalusian referee not only did not see an infraction by Romeu, but he ended up pointing out a foul in the visitors’ attack.
The minutes passed and finding himself unable to harm Girona in attack, Simeone opted to make a triple substitution and brought on Correa, De Paul and Morata, the man who would end up giving him the three points.
Before, however, Girona had a couple of good chances. It would have been especially anthological if David López had been able to overcome Oblak with a shot from midfield that the Slovenian goalkeeper took almost under the same line when half a stadium was already singing the goal. And moments later, Roro Riquelme – on loan precisely from Atlético – received an unmarked ball, at the edge of the area, which Oblak saved again
And when it seemed that the two teams would share the points, at the exit of a corner Morata put the toe of his boot to overcome Gazzaniga from the far post and give victory to his team. Girona also saw how in the final stretch two of Míchel’s fixtures in midfield, Aleix Garcia and Oriol Romeu, had to be replaced due to physical problems.
0 – Girona FC: Gazzaniga; Arnau, Santi Bueno, David López, Miguel; Romeu (Iván Martín, min. 75), Aleix García (Bernardo, min. 87); Tsygankov (Toni Villa, min. 87), Borja García (Valery, min. 64), Riquelme; and Castellanos (Stuani, min. 75).
1 – Atletico Madrid: Oblak; Molina, Savic, José María Giménez, Mario Hermoso, Carrasco (Saúl, min. 76); Marcos Llorente (Rodrigo de Paul, min. 62), Koke (Witsel, min. 81), Lemar (Correa, min. 62); Memphis (Morata, min. 62) and Griezmann.
Goals: 0-1, min. 90 1: Morata.
Referee: Melero López (Andalusian committee). He admonished the locals Stuani (min. 90 11) and Gazzaniga (min. 90 12) and the visitors Marcos Llorente (min. 57), Savic (min. 66) and Rodrigo de Paul (90 8).
Incidents: Match of the twenty-fifth day of LaLiga Santander, played at the Estadi Municipal de Montilivi before 12,499 fans.
