Atlético de Madrid, without hiding that it is thinking more about Tuesday’s match at the Emirates Stadium, the Champions League return leg, than the League, swept aside a Valencia team without football or personality (0-2). Diego Simeone, who was coaching his thousandth match —795 with his Atleti— filled his starting eleven with substitutes and youth players. Enough to dominate Carlos Corberán’s team at will. In the second half, to top it off, two debutants like Iker Luque (20 years old) and Miguel Cubo (18) scored the two goals that ended Mestalla’s resistance.
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Valencia came out intact from the first half and that, despite the loud booing that accompanied the team to their refuge, was a miracle after about 45 minutes in which Atlético’s substitutes danced around the white-and-black team. Stole Dimitrievski prevented disaster with several saving hands against the wave-like attacks of an Atlético team driven by Nahuel Molina down the right wing. The full-back, world champion with Messi’s Argentina, created chances every time he joined the attack. One of them, with a tremendous shot, very far away, almost from the center circle, hit the ball against the post.
No one suspected such superiority when they read Simeone’s lineup, full of substitutes and young players from the reserve team like Boñar, Julio Díaz, Morcillo, and Rayane, all in tune alongside some heavyweights like Le Normand, Musso, or Nahuel Molina himself, unstoppable throughout the first half. The match had also started with a neat Valencia in which Javi Guerra launched long balls with much intention. But the afternoon, like those summer storms when the sky darkens and suddenly it starts pouring, changed suddenly. The storm was Atlético.
Their superiority, especially overwhelming for ten minutes, when Dimitrievski, a goalkeeper in trance for several weeks, multiplied under his goal because the Atlético players entered their area wherever they wanted, ultimately amounted to nothing. The score did not move. It didn’t matter. The Valencia fans, hurt to see their team couldn’t even challenge Atlético’s second team, showed their anger and pointed again at Corberán. Meanwhile, Valencia repeatedly lost themselves with crosses towards Sadiq. The Nigerian striker always saw the ball pass too far away.
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The trend was the same in the second half. Valencia remained inside the labyrinth with no idea how to get out. Gayá didn’t know what to do to stop Nahuel Molina and there was no imagination in midfield. Valencia was a too predictable team and the crowd, on top of that, transmitted their nervousness. The legs of the Valencians trembled again, like in the dark afternoons of the first round.
Carlos Corberán also seemed unable to figure out how to neutralize a team with players whose names he might not even know. It felt like it didn’t matter who wore Atlético’s shirt. Anyone could trouble Valencia. Like the promising Cubo, born in 2008, a forward whom, judging by what was seen, Simeone did not hesitate to bring in.
Or Iker Luque, 20 years old, the young player who, after 70 minutes in which Atleti had many chances to score, managed to beat Dimitrievski just after the red-and-white coach, tired of the 0-0, decided to bring out two of his leaders: Koke and Griezmann. Actually, he didn’t need to. As soon as he came on, in another Atlético combination without finding much opposition, Luque scored the goal his team so deserved. Cubo was also rewarded in a play where the defense thought Griezmann was offside when receiving the ball and the referee, after VAR review, allowed the 0-2 to stand.
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| Standings | PT | PJ | PG | PE | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 39 | 33 | 9 | 12 | 12 |
12 | 39 | 33 | 10 | 9 | 14 |
| 13 | 39 | 34 | 10 | 9 | 15 |
| 14 | 38 | 33 | 9 | 11 | 13 |
15 | 38 | 34 | 10 | 8 | 16 |
| Standings | PT | PJ | PG | PE | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2 | 74 | 33 | 23 | 5 | 5 |
| 3 | 68 | 34 | 21 | 5 | 8 |
| 4 | 63 | 34 | 19 | 6 | 9 |
5 | 50 | 33 | 12 | 14 | 7 |
6 | 44 | 33 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
