The lack of goals in the first half hour and a thick football to dismantle Espanyol’s effective defensive system for an hour caused Atlético’s first serious setback in this league. A damaging draw, one of those that are remembered when looking at the table with the season underway. Atlético dominated a lot, but when they were pressed to find solutions in the final stretch, they became clouded. Their two big signings for the forward line, Julián Alvarez and Sorloth, watched the draw on the bench after being substituted. The first at half-time, the second with 20 minutes to go, when Simeone was frightened by an Espanyol counterattack and brought on Reinildo.
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Jan Oblak, Nahuel Molina (Marcos Llorente, min. 45), Robin Le Normand, Axel Witsel, César Azpilicueta, Rodrigo Riquelme, Samuel Lino (Pablo Barrios, min. 45), Koke, Rodrigo De Paul (Ángel Correa, min. 61 ), Julián Alvarez (Antoine Griezmann, min. 45) and Alexander Sørloth (Reinildo, min. 72)
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The cast includes: Joan Garcia, Carlos Romero (Brian Olivan, min. 63), Fernando Calero, Marash Kumbulla (Sergi Gomez, min. 64), Alvaro Tejero, Omar El Hilali, Alex Kral, Alvaro Aguado (Jofre Carreras, min. 86), Jose Gragera (Pol Lozano, min. 65), Alejo Veliz (Walid Cheddira, min. 63) and Javi Puado
Referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea
Yellow cards
Javi Puado (min. 54), Omar (min. 81)
In search of a starting eleven and with an eye on the demanding match at San MamésSimeone activated the rotations in all the lines. In defence, he gave a chance to Molina, still marked by his poor last season and the impressive start of Llorente. Witsel also came on, pointed out against Villarreal for lack of speed. In the middle, Koke took charge instead of Barrios and in attack Griezmann was absent and Sorloth and Julián Alvarez formed a pair. El Cholo also did not think that Espanyol, a newly promoted team, was a suitable rival to pair the Norwegian and the Argentine with the Frenchman at the start. Nor did he in the second half, when he benched the Argentine at half-time.
Simeone did keep the Riquelme-Lino left flank, who had already been the best in the dull match against Girona. And from that flank the storm broke loose with which Atlético boxed Espanyol in the first half hour. They stole the ball quickly and high and strangled their rival. Julián Alvarez could have made his debut with a cross from Riquelme, but he was met with a good flight at medium height by Joan García. Then, he headed a ball high that fell to him from a corner kick combed by Witsel. Lino also crashed the ball into the post after a filtered pass from De Paul. Sorloth hammered with two good headers and a weak shot that did not find the target. From that bossy start, in which Espanyol was happy to come out unscathed, sheltered by the saves of Joan García and their five-man defence, Atlético could not open the scoring. If against Girona he found two gifts without hardly generating any playlast night lacked the skill to complete its hegemonic first half hour. It took Espanyol more than twenty minutes to get into Oblak’s area. Manolo González’s team grew after the hydration break. They adjusted the way they came out of the pressure, and the Czech Král and Aguado, their two best players yesterday by far, came into their own. The latter caught a low pass from Tejero in a half-failure and the ball fell clear to Puedo with Oblak on the ground. The Perico striker shot over the crossbar. Espanyol could have taken the lead on the scoreboard from the first play developed. Atlético had lowered the pace, but, even so, they managed to finish the first act in Espanyol’s area with two shots from Lino and Sorloth.
The draw worried Simeone, who made three changes. He benched Julián Alvarez, Molina and Lino. Griezmann, Llorente and Barrios came on. The new team gave the second half some energy. They linked up a couple of plays attacking the spaces and cutting off the area but they couldn’t find a finisher. Koke did manage to push a clearance from Joan García to a cross from the side and Riquelme, to ensure that the ball went in, pushed it over the goal line. The Espanyol goalkeeper was out of the goal and there was only one defender behind him. Regarding the second, which would have validated the goal, the VAR detected that Riquelme had half his boot in front of him. The fluidity with which Atlético broke into the first quarter faded. Their football became sluggish and Espanyol’s defensive work got the red and whites off the mark. Simeone wanted to add more dynamite and gave Correa free rein by sacrificing De Paul. Atlético did not get out of the jam either. To top it off, Espanyol launched a counterattack in which Cheddira forced Oblak to make a good save. The typical sign that Simeone fears a defeat in a loose play and makes changes in search of solidity that allows the attack. So Reinildo came on for Sorloth, thus ruling out the penalty area for a finale in which a torrent of crosses into the area could be expected. Atlético only managed to create one chance in more than an hour, a counterattack led by Griezmann and accompanied by Riquelme who was forced to finish. In the last play, Riquelme again scored offside. Atlético first fought for the goal and then for the game.
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