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A goal of advantage and a game for the emotional memory of the Simeone era. Once again, when he was terminated, Atlético got up with an epic of his own. Defense, effort and unwavering faith to hold and derail the almighty Liverpool, who left incredulous and tormented, with his score to zero and without hitting between the three sticks of Oblak. Atletico will live an environmental hell in Anfield, but the champion has known before the Metropolitan. Never, since the existence of the new stadium, Luis Aragonés Avenue had collapsed or dyed the flares red and white of the smoke. In the days leading up to the game from all levels of the club, a boiler had been urged to receive the European champion.
ATM
one
-
0
LIV
Athletic
Oblak, Savic, Renan Augusto, Vrsaljko, Felipe Monteiro, Lemar (Marcos Llorente, min. 45), Saúl, Thomas, Koke, Morata (Vitolo, min. 69) and Correa (Diego Costa, min. 76).
Liverpool
Alisson, Virgil Van Dijk, A. Robertson, Joe Gomez, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Wijnaldum, Henderson (Milner, min. 79), Fabinho, Mane (Divock Origi, min. 45), Roberto Firmino and Salah (Oxlade-Chamberlain, min. 72).
Goals
1-0 min. 3: Saul.
Referee
Szymon Marciniak
Correa (min. 44), Joe Gomez (min. 58) and Mane (min. 39).
Stadium: Wanda Metropolitano
The atmosphere seemed to be as transcendental as Simeone's slate to fight a team that presented itself as unattainable. By the time they were over and over, for Atlético the duel was one of those impossible appointments. A chimera of those in which faith seems to count as much as football or lineups. In the latter, Simeone surprised with the inclusion of Lemar and his resignation to the quad. Because of the magnitude of the duel, it did not aim to be a mere opportunity. In the head of the rojiblanco coach there seemed to be two games. One for each time. He resigned from Llorente and Vitolo, two of the most meritorious players in recent weeks. Thomas and Saul were propped up in the middle. The presence of Koke and Lemar pointed to an attempt to have a good foot on the sides. Less forage and more daring than expected. The eleven and the willingness of the players to challenge the bubbly team of Jürgen Klopp was a clear bet of Simeone.
Initially, the rock and roll was not of the Klopp boys, who seemed surprised both at the start of the rojiblancos at full speed and the decibels that emanated from the stands. Everything was jelly. A throw-in, a recovery or a bad delivery of Liverpool. In that heartbreaking rhythm, Lemar put a thread that Morata only managed to connect with the bangs. The early riser gave Atlético a corner kick. Correa executed it and the ball fell dead to Saul without any of Liverpool's defenses had succeeded in clearing it. Saul topped Alisson with a cross shot. In four minutes Atlético had the marker where nobody expected.
The early riser measured both the deeds of the champion, forced to go in tow before a team that has made a place in the elite since defending a revenue, however small. The goal gave way to an earthly domain of Liverpool. The match went on to play at Atlético. Folded up, he seemed to want to invite the champion to show his repertoire without spaces to run. Fabinho swept any attempt by the Simeone team to move from the center of the field and from the Brazilian was sharpened with its sides. Especially with Robertson, who seemed to have a displacement more than any of the players on the field.
Atlético deployed a defensive exercise of their own. Guild and intelligent not to sting on the drag and the ball-free provocations of Salah, Firmino and Mané. Nor were attempts at breaking inside Henderson a solution. In the midst of that domain, Atlético could stretch a few times to worry. An unusual bad clearance from Van Dijk put Morata against Joe Gomez and Alisson, and the forward resolved with a cut and a strong but innocent shot.
No news of the trident 'network'
After half an hour, Oblak was unpublished. No offensive news from the trident network. Handled until Mané and Robertson linked a play that Salah did not turn into a goal because his shot hit Savic's back. That was the only spark of a team that did not hit the key to unravel the rojiblanco network of Atlético, who went to rest pulled by his fans.
Llorente's change for Lemar certified that Simeone had two games in his mind. With the score in favor, he shielded the center of the field and reinforced it with the deployment and revolutions of the Madrid wheel. Klopp also operated in the booth. He sat down the blurred Mané, admonished, and he trusted Origi's power. The torrential exit of Liverpool barely gave him a header from Salah that left by little. Both submission without disturbing Oblak even encouraged Atlético to stretch. There Lodi signed one of his best performances. A ride from area to area broke Liverpool. And he did not finish liquidating him because Morata stumbled when he put his leg together. Lodi himself proved his fortune with a distant and crossed missile that grieved Alisson.
Liverpool's response was a Henderson arrival finished with a weeping touch. Vitolo's double exchange for Morata and Diego Costa, who reappeared, for Correa was Simeone's last maneuver to try to prevent the team from finishing in his area, and he succeeded. Without Salah, Liverpool remained frustrated in his attempt to assault a team he never knew how to knock down.
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