Due to the accumulated tension and the enormous physical wear he endured, Marcos Llorente slept barely three hours the night after the immense match he played against Barcelona. Insomnia led Llorente to share on his social networks one of his reflections on his particular methods for the careful maintenance of his health: “Not every day will be 95-98, these days I curse the circadian rhythm. In the next story, I leave you the secret that helps me recover from the match and from sleep.”
Circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle, regulated by an internal biological clock in the hypothalamus, mainly in response to light and darkness. They regulate sleep, body temperature, hormones, and metabolism, and faced with a deficit of sleeping hours, Llorente again turned to sunlight as a remedy and posted an excerpt from recent statements by Pep Guardiola in which the City coach said he was not joking when he justified his team’s improvement in the last month. “In Manchester, there is never sun. If there were sun in November, we would be Premier League champions in January. It’s the sun, honestly. The mood is better,” asserted the Catalan coach.
Llorente’s habits, his dietary habits with the paleolithic diet, or the glasses of different colors to combat rooms without natural light, have taken hold in the rojiblanco locker room and also in the national team’s. At Cerro del Espino, they admit that Llorente, little by little, has become a natural leader, especially for the younger players, due to his discipline and the increase of his leadership in matches. “Marcos is incredible. He plays as an interior, forward, fullback, stopper (defensive midfielder). He has evolved as a footballer and as a person. It is admirable how he works and pushes his teammates to have an orderly life,” praised Diego Pablo Simeone in the press room at the Metropolitano.
The role of stopper, a term very common in South American football, did not prevent Llorente from dropping back to break Barcelona’s defensive line in a run into space and assist Lookman in the goal that qualified Atlético for the Champions League semifinals for the fourth time in the Simeone era. Llorente was marking Pedri, and when Atlético recovered the ball, he broke into space knowing that the Canarian midfielder would not follow him. When the Nigerian scored, he celebrated euphorically next to the corner flag, which was his fourth assist of the season. According to Opta data, since his arrival at Atlético de Madrid in the 2019-2020 season, only one midfielder (Luka Modric, 33) has provided more goal assists in LaLiga than Marcos Llorente (30, tied with Toni Kroos). Another statistic from the current Champions League reveals his involvement in defensive work. Only two midfielders, Maxi Araújo (Sporting Portugal, 38) and Kamiel Van de Perre (Union St-Gilloise, 30), have made more tackles (challenges to sweep the ball from opponents) this season than Llorente (29).
With Pablo Barrios injured, Simeone has opted for Llorente as Koke’s partner in the midfield axis to try to contain Barcelona. He already did so in the 4-0 first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals, and in the double European encounter, he has been fundamental in darkening Pedri, the main artery of Barça’s offensive football in midfield.
Llorente was signed as a replacement for Rodri, but Simeone discarded him for that position after a friendly match in his first preseason as a rojiblanco. Since then, he has made a career and achieved international status as a box-to-box midfielder drifting to the right and later as a right-back. Right now, he seems a regular in Luis de la Fuente’s list for the World Cup due to his versatility. Until a couple of years ago, Simeone was not fully convinced by him as a pivot, but the Copa and Champions League semifinals against Barça have opened a window and a possible solution. Atlético has been searching for years, without success, for a defensive midfielder, and Llorente could regain the status for which he was signed. His contract ends in summer 2027, and next January he will be free to negotiate. For the club, he is a fundamental piece of their medium-term project and they intend to renew him as soon as possible, but they will have to make him an improved offer because it could be his last big contract.
