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Atlético suffers in the heart of Galicia

2022-12-22T22:48:11.461Z


A goal by Pablo Barrios, a footballer from the subsidiary, unlocks a tie that Simeone's team got complicated against Arenteiro, from the Second RFEF


A target from the new Pablo Barrios fifteen minutes from time gave Atlético a hard-worked pass in a poisonous cup match.

Outside of Europe, thirteen points behind the league leader, the KO tournament is Atlético's lifeline of the season.

Cholo showed it by singing with the passion of big events the goals (1-3) that gave him a pass to the round of 32 in O Carballiño, a town in Ourense neighboring the heart of Galicia.

He had to overcome the mattress team against Arenteiro, a club that manages a budget of just over 800,000 euros and a team that moves with the conviction of someone who has a plan: press, hit and hit the rival area.

He likes to do it, in addition, on a stage that he dominates and that refers to what is identified with lifelong football, the northern one as well.

But updated.

Pick and shovel, sweat and mud, broken grass, bare and flooded flanks, provisional stands to increase the capacity of a small candy bar... The transition between the warm Qatari incubator was too abrupt for Atlético, who lined up six World Cup players in their starting team.

Simeone, who five days ago was celebrating the Argentine title in a luxurious box in Lusail, moved between narrow spaces on the narrow side of the Espiñedo field.

Everything must have seemed so thorny to him that he didn't even put on his elegant dark suit and opted for a tracksuit and slippers.

It was not the right setting to wear 600-euro shoes.

From Qatar to O Carballiño, from tinsel to modesty, Atlético had a hard time solving the pass because, deep down, the football of a lifetime is no longer the one of our lives.

Elite clubs pay salaries to

greenkeepers

and their footballers don't know what a clod of grass is.

In addition, the mattress stars had a good team in front of them, the leader of the first group of the Second RFEF, the fourth category of Spanish football, and champion of the Federation Cup, the competition for the modest ones that also gave them a pass to the Copa del Rey , a tournament in which he had already left Almería behind and also showed himself a year ago by demanding even penalties from Valencia.

Atlético made an effort, they wanted to assert themselves and they succeeded thanks to the good work of Morata, who at times subdued the Arenteiro central experts.

He was able to score Koke, excellent on arrival at a Lemar cross.

His shot was flattened by goalkeeper Diego García, who also responded firmly to a new attempt by Morata.

But the one who struck first was Arenteiro, who had found a highway behind Carrasco's back.

From there he led the Galician team towards the goal of Markitos, a midfielder forged in the Celta nursery, who was revived to take advantage of a second action before which Llorente activated late to leave him offside.

The goal came at the climax of the first half, but Atlético minimized the damage with the equalizer before the break, a penalty committed against Giménez that Carrasco converted.

In this apotheosis of football of yesteryear, of course, there was no trace of VAR.

So when the referee González Fuertes, after the break, went back to the penalty spot after a fall by Carrasco, everything referred to old traditions about great and modest, to one of the eternal discussions about the ball.

It was Morata who went to eleven meters, not the Belgian, but his shot was disastrous, well cleared in any case by the local goalkeeper.

Nothing got out of hand from there, but Atlético began to feel more comfortable.

The Arenteiro wore out, but it remained standing because it never got messy.

He barely allowed a diagonal that seemed to go nowhere, a drive by Barrios, who had started the game with doubts and had been in charge of his team for several minutes.

He was not in Qatar.

He plays in the Second RFEF with the subsidiary and his left foot got Atlético out of a monumental mess.

He then put the signature Carrasco on the hour.

The mattress team will be this Friday at 12:30 p.m. in the draw that is held in the Ciudad del Fútbol and in which the four teams that will play the Super Cup and that have been exempt from the two previous rounds will also be integrated.

Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Betis and Valencia join a list of First Division teams in which only Girona has been dismounted in this tie, surpassed by Cacereño (2-1).

Before the break, Almería, against Arenteiro, and Cádiz had already fallen.

The Galician team could not complete the feat of the team from Cáceres and Ibiza Islas Pitiusas, the two RFEF Second Division teams that will play among the top 32 of the Cup.

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Source: elparis

All sports articles on 2022-12-22

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