Decisive in their pressure from above, unstoppable in their attack, Atlético de Madrid devoured UD Las Palmas this Saturday with two goals from Marcos Llorente, another two from Correa, one from Memphis and a lot of errors from their rival, in a match round in which he won, reaffirmed his Champions League place and qualified almost his entire eleven on Tuesday against Inter at San Siro.
Griezmann, Memphis, De Paul, Hermoso and Witsel, expected to start in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, rested at the start. Memphis, De Paul and Witsel came on for the final half hour, Koke, Llorente, Giménez and Lino were replaced, then Barrios and Griezmann and Hermoso didn’t even play. From there will come everything (or almost everything) of Milan’s eleven, completed by goalkeeper Jan Oblak.
Atlético did not suffer at all, and responded with an even better result than Inter achieved this Friday in Serie A against Salernitana because of the sensations. 5-0 and 4-0. Because, for example, Llorente appeared, accurate in his reunion with the forward, a position in which his performance is indisputable, and Correa, scorer in the second half, a penalty. The victory was completed by Memphis Depay, already on the brink of the end.
And, above all, because Simeone had the match planned. The Argentine coach discovered, broke down, influenced and took advantage of Las Palmas’ weak points. He is a coach who reduces each duel, each moment, each match, to the smallest detail to often glimpse (there are other times) where the match is decided. In what defect or in what virtue.
The pressure up front, in the opposite field, was the crucial element on which everything else was based to disarm Las Palmas. He did not allow his rhythm and promoted every mistake of his rival. At the same time, he solved the risks he took in his defense, one for one quite a few times, without Las Palmas having even reached him when he was already leading 2-0 on the scoreboard.
The possession of the Canarian team, so identifying in García Pimienta’s project, was its end in the Metropolitan. Stalked by Atlético, launched into an intense, insistent and dizzying harassment in every exit, in every pass, in every moment with the ball from Las Palmas, the visitors felt forced, overwhelmed, out of place and erratic. Too many failures.
It is not at all easy to handle the ball in the face of pressure of such caliber as the one that Atlético set out to do from the first moment. It is true that Las Palmas was not lucky either in the first goal against, in Sergi Cardona’s clearance against Perrone that enabled only Marcos Llorente, who had a goal to spare. Such skill was questioned many times, when his numerical decline has been evident, diminished by his obligatory status as a winger or winger.
Too far back to connect the shot or in functions more of generation than definition. Because his punch leaves no room for doubt. It is irrefutable. Back at the top, because Morata is injured and because Simeone rotated Griezmann and Memphis for what is coming on Tuesday against Inter, his first two shots in the area were goals.
As simple as that. The first, benefiting from the rebound, made it 1-0 around the quarter of an hour mark. He holed it safely, easily. As much as Correa’s previous option had been, which he missed over the crossbar. Las Palmas’ error coincided in both. On the third occasion, Atlético’s 2-0, too. Another unforgivable gift at the Metropolitano.
The ball belonged to Saúl Coco at the start. Correa pressured him, unmatched in his faith that every ball is in dispute. The Argentine won the fight with the entire visiting defense out of position. The only difficulty was giving a more than clear pass inside the area for Llorente, scorer again. He didn’t give Vallés any option either. His last double was in April 2021.
Away from the controlling, slow rhythm, owner of the ball that he likes so much and that Atlético did not grant him at any time, Las Palmas felt overwhelmed in 20 minutes, overwhelmed by the pressure of the red and white team. His brief reaction in a couple of sporadic actions by Sandro Ramírez and Oblak himself, who missed an exit, was not even close to the magnitude of the stop with which Álvaro Vallés denied Molina a 3-0 lead.
It didn’t take much longer. At one minute and 15 seconds after the restart, Correa hit the volley to make it 3-0, after a header from Koke and a mistake in the goal by Mika Mármol. One more from Las Palmas, which received the 4-0 at game time due to a penalty from Marvin to Lino determined in the monitor’s vision and transformed by Correa and the 5-0 at the edge of the end for Memphis, assisted by Rirquelme. Even Oblak excelled twice in the second act of Las Palmas. A team today disfigured. Disappointing. Inter awaits on Tuesday.
5 – Atlético de Madrid: Oblak; Molina, Savic, Giménez (Witsel, d. 62), Reinildo; Barrios (Vermeeren, d. 70), Koke (De Paul, d. 62), Saúl, Lino (Riquelme, d. 62); Correa and Llorente (Memphis, m. 62).
0 – The Palms: Alvaro Valleys; Alex Suarez (Araujo, m. 58), Coconut, Marble, Sergi Cardona (Sinkgraven, m. 74); Marvin, Javi Munoz, Perrone (Moleiro, m. 58), Kirian, Munir El Haddadi (Pejino, m. 80); and Sandro (Marc Cardona, m. 58).
Goals: 1-0, m. 15: Llorente. 2-0, m. 20: Llorente. 3-0, m. 47: Belt 4-0, m. 60: Correa, penalty. 5-0, m. 88: Memphis.
Referee: Figueroa Vazquez (C. Andaluz). Yellow carded locals Molina (m. 28) and Saúl (m. 32) and visitor Perrone (m. 4).
Incidents: match corresponding to the twenty-fifth day of LaLiga EA Sports before 61,196 spectators at the Cívitas Metropolitano stadium.
