Saúl Ñíguez: "This is our hardest year"

Saúl Ñíguez (Elche, 25 years old) already enjoys, without a doubt, the status of untouchable for Diego Pablo Simeone. Cholo does not understand the team without his presence or that of Koke, above that they are more or less correct with the ball. Tactically essential because he has very internalized what his coach demands, after confinement Saúl has established himself as a midfielder, the position in which he feels most comfortable and from which he has been removed many times due to his versatility to play on the right or left , and even as a side. The passage of time and the departure of the technician's old praetorian guard have made Saúl one of the captains. In this first season as the visible head of the veterans, he has had to deal with very delicate moments, such as those of the whistles from the fans to Koke and Simeone, the integration of João Félix, and also the crisis of results and game that put the classification for the next Champions at risk. The last stumbling block, the positives for the covid-19 of Vrsaljko and Correa. For all this, he points out this course as the most complicated since he has been at Atlético.

Question. At last it seems that he is settling in as a midfielder.

Reply. The coach knows that with me he has variants, that I can play in different positions, not only in the center of the field. Various circumstances, at times, force him to count on me in positions in which I am not performing at my best level and I am not helping the team as much as possible. In between I can help a lot more. I think the coach thinks the same and that is what has made him more fixed in the middle.

P. You are developing a very tactical function to cover, but without giving up on your arrival.

A. In this 4-4-2 system, if I don't play in one of the two bands, the arrival is lower, but it is true that, for example, if I am the one who plays on the left of the two midfielders, I can enter in the area when Trippier or Arias, or the far right, reach the baseline. If not, my arrivals are more with shots from outside the area.

Q. Does it benefit you that after confinement the team plays more in the opposite field?

A. That benefits everyone in the sense that when the team is good, we are all good. If I play a normal game and the team has played well, my performance is enhanced. The important thing is the collective.

Q. Have you taken a step forward by pressing higher?

R. We have read the games in many ways, in some we have gone to press much further ahead; in others, not so much. In the end, the need, the desire and the physical form in which we were, compared to the rest, has allowed us. The five changes benefit us because we have a very competitive squad and allow us to hold the pressure up for longer. With three changes, maybe you can play like this for 35 minutes and with five, 70, and it shows.

The calendar

Quarters

1. Atalanta-PSG. This Wednesday. Estádio da Luz.

2. Leipzig-Athletic. This Thursday. José Alvalade.

3. Barcelona-Bayern. Friday 14. Estádio da Luz.

4. Manchester City-Lyon. Saturday 15. José Alvalade.

Semifinals

Winners 1-2. Tuesday 18. Estádio da Luz.

Winners 3-4. Wednesday 19. José Alvalade.

Final

Sunday 23. Estádio da Luz.

All games, at 9:00 p.m. (Movistar LC).

P. Simeone insisted a lot telematically on tactical work, what did he say in your case?

R. It was, above all, to remember in which positions he wants you to be, to make you see what you have done right and wrong. More than anything cool because you couldn't train, keep it in your head, turn it around and don't forget.

P. You have insisted a lot on the pressure after loss.

R. He has always done it, because when you lose the ball the teams are opening up and, if you get it back, you hurt them.

Q. Speaking of the things you can do wrong, your passing percentage is 80%, when great midfielders are usually 90% or more.

R. Sometimes I do not have the day and you have to admit it. I can have losses, I don't care, but I hope 80% are when I play forward. There are many mediums that have a 90% or 95% success rate in the passes, but most of them are lateralized, they do not pass lines. What I want is to give my partner time when he receives. If I have to risk and maybe fail, I risk, but I have tried to give my partner that extra time. Damn, sometimes I play it and ahhh ... If it happens, it's one more second that I give it and if not, they are plays that you are in the rival field and you can risk. I honestly don't care much about statistics.

Q. Do you feel more mature?

A. Every year you do new things. This has been difficult for everyone, despite the fact that we have achieved the goal of entering the Champions League. This can make you not perform at your best, or that you are not mentally the same, but you grow in other aspects.

P. Do you notice that your rivals respect you so much as to feel dominating the matches?

R. That you have to earn on the field, it is not just that you have more maturity. It is true that I am increasingly able to read the games. Even if I can't solve it on the field, I try to make Cholo see what I am seeing from within the field.

P. This was the first season without the old guard, the Gabi, Torres, Tiago, Juanfran, Godín, Filipe ... What message have you repeated the most as one of the captains?

R. Well, well, well ... Koke, Oblak, I ..., there are people left (laughs). In the end you transmit the union, the commitment, what the players that he mentioned did. Atlético is based on the collective, when someone thinks individually, this is the only thing that the team cannot accept. Thinking of the collective, everything else comes. The game or even the season may turn out better or worse, that doesn't matter, what matters is that you are committed, be respectful to the group and give everything. That is what is repeated and what we have transmitted to achieve the goal in the hardest year since I have been at Atlético.

P. There were whistles to Koke, to Simeone for the game, before December it seemed difficult even that they finished in the first four, what has been the key to getting up?

R. Believing in what we do, which is what has led us to be where we are, to win titles and the club to grow. And that each player, with the collective, grows. We have had great players, and whenever they have thought collectively we have done better. Atlético is good and Saúl is good, Atleti is good and Koke is good… If Atleti is bad, Saúl or Koke are bad. Then what happens happens: that if we are bad, the weight falls on Koke, on Cholo, on Oblak, on Costa, on me or on Giménez, those of us who have been with us the longest. It is normal.

Q. With João Félix there have been internal and external criticisms about your individualism.

R. At no time have there been criticisms and if there is criticism to be made it is to the media, which emphasizes what it has cost. But he is a boy who has arrived with 19 years, this is his first year and in a complicated season. It has a huge quality and people criticize it, but I think it was good. Little by little he will have to adapt to the team, the club and the fans.

Q. When you decided to take the penalty against Lokomotiv, it generated an internal stir.

R. Why?

Q. You skipped the list.

R. Well, if you are confident ... The last time, for example, Costa fired in Barcelona and missed, and the second time he left it to me. Against Mallorca I was the first on the list and I decided to give it to Morata, who at that moment needed to score goals. It all depends on how the player is. If at that moment João was confident and wants to show, what am I going to tell him, not to shoot the penalty? Let him throw it away and let it be like that always, have that confidence. What we want is the best for him.

Q. Does the Leipzig game benefit you?

R. It is a very daring team, which gathers many players on the inside, has deep sides and creates superiorities. When we get the ball back, we can hurt them. There are three finals, but the only one that matters to us is this match. There is no more, it is reality.