Two errors from Gazzaniga, punished by two shots from Griezmann and Marcos Llorente, and a counterattack culminated by Koke in injury time allowed Atlético to claim their first league win against Girona. Punch and a bit of football. It was Simeone's team for most of the game. The Argentine coach did not dare to line up Griezmann together, Julien Alvarez and Sorloth in the team's debut at the Metropolitano. Girona proposed and the reds and whites won. It was only when Míchel's team disconnected in the final minutes that the parish was able to take advantage of some counterattacks.
At Athletic The score remains, the victory, Girona feels that they continue to play very well, but that they have lost too many players who were the backbone of last season.
It was full Metropolitaneager to see a renewed team in which Julián Alvarez is the main attraction. The Norman occupied the right profile of the three central defenders, Giménez the middle and Azpilicueta the left. De Paul and Barrios anchored themselves in the middle. Koke was dosed, in what seems to be tonic during the course.
The excitement for the new cards quickly turned into reality, although Julián Alvarez tried to keep it going with a start appropriate to the staging of what should be a signature of these characteristics. He shot on goal from the first time he could gather his leg and chased the ball under pressure like a man. Soda for the game he was willing to play Girona. Dominating from the ball. Simeone gave Sorloth away and Míchel won numerical superiority to get the ball out and place it in the center of the field. He sank Oriol Romeu to make it four against the double striker Griezmann and Alvarez. In midfield, Girona also won against De Paul, Barrios and Lino. The beats of the latter and Riquelme were the only way that Atlético found to penetrate Gazzaniga's area.
Girona played more, Blind's finesse and intelligence to galvanize football from the cave. Perhaps Girona was a more beautiful team to watch than a performing team. But a team that lost its anchor, Aleix García, its most disruptive player, Savinho, and its scorer, Dobvyk, usurped the status of home of its rival. Girona entered the opposite field and closed the exits to Barrios and De Paul. The game was his and he was already starting to generate lateral crosses with Arnau and Tsygankov who could not find Abel Ruiz.
Atlético didn't even scratch, but football gave them a goal on a simple ball from Le Normand. The gift came rather from Gazzaniga, the first of the two who defined the match. First, he badly timed his exit and committed a handball outside the area because he swallowed the rebound of the ball. Then because he badly positioned himself and reacted late to Griezmann's shot which was looking for the uncovered post. Out of nowhere, Atlético took the lead shortly before half-time. Abel Ruiz, always so gifted in the combination game and so lukewarm with the goal, worried Oblak before the interval.
It didn't take long for Gazzaniga to score Atlético's second goal. Marcos Llorente, in his first appearance on the pitch, fired a right hand that was swallowed by the Argentine goalkeeper. He received Llorente's jolt with his legs raised and his hands soft.
It didn't change the party's skin. Girona continued to put Atlético in their own half, but with the same lack of dynamite. The changes made by Simeone proved that Gallagher has the legs and energy that his new coach values so much. Koke also came on, whose absence still leaves the question of whether the team is getting used to playing without him. From what was seen in the first half and part of the second, his teammates don't seem to be getting used to it.
Míchel also tried to give a twist to this insane domination with a triple change. Nothing. Good until Oblak's area and lack of pinch to do real damage. Only Girona collapsed in the final stretch. By then, Sorloth was already on the field and he justified himself with some runs and releases that put the team to the test and showed his coach that he could be less preventive and more ambitious.
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