From 9pm this evening, Fernando Torres will cease to be a nostalgic love and will become a suitor, a wooer and an applicant. Fernando Torres will no longer be El Niño because he will no longer be frozen in time. It is possible that there will be a happy ending to this Christmas tale which was lived during his presentation, three days ago, seven years later. In many stories, the curtain would then be lowered, success assured, tears included. The story of now faces an uncertain end. Christmas has finished, but the tale continues. Torres will reappear against Real Madrid and he will do it as a starting centre-forward for Atlético. Tonight we will know if love can do everything.
Not even the pragmatic Simeone escaped the enchantment that Torres provokes among Atlético fans. Yesterday the Argentine coach not only confirmed that the forward would start but forgot his compulsive caution to declare that his team are challengers for the three titles that are competing for: “We feel that we can compete for everything, La Liga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey”. We had never seen Cholo like so, so far from his ‘game by game’ approach, so publicly optimistic and so obviously in love.
His debut in the starting XI clears us of a malignant doubt: Atleti will not use Fernando Torres as a religious charm, as a lever for the last few minutes or as an honorary centre-forward. In the club, among those on the bench, there seems to be the belief that El Niño will resume his career where he left off, as if four years hadn’t passed since his best form, as if Chelsea and Milan had not discarded him, as if love explained it all.
Even before a ball has been kicked, the effect is achieved: Atlético are emotional favourites and their level of euphoria resembles Valencia’s. Real Madrid have also contributed to that feeling. From wowing us with a historical record, we are now thinking of philosophical questions. Since Sunday, the system (Isco+James+BBC) has been called into question, as has Bale and the distribution of first-team minutes among the squad. Exaggeration is inevitable, but they should not panic after losing a game they should have drawn.
Having said that, the truth is that there are stadiums and opponents that suggest the need for a fortified midfield; we don’t forget that Madrid completed a large chunk of that victorious streak with playmakers redeployed as midfielders (Kroos, James, Isco). And that is not always achieved, especially against midfields as ferocious as those of Valencia or Atlético.
Therefore, today we expect, from the start, the correction that Ancelotti presented in the second half at Mestalla: Khedira for James or Isco. On nights like this they will finally miss Xabi Alonso.
In the eleven. Bale, right now, is untouched and there are arguments to defend that decision. The first is that the Welshman is the only forward who does not play in his favoured position. Additionally, he is the only one of whom defensive commitment is required. That permanent foreshortening and the hunger to be vindicated are valid excuses (still) to justify an obsession.
Keylor, Varane and perhaps Coentrao will be the other headline inclusions to a Real Madrid that, today, are more threatened by their loss of confidence than by the strength of their rivals.
In such overflowing squads, each turn of fate (injury, tiredness, defeat) is an opportunity: for whoever needs first-team minutes, to strengthen the system, to stimulate the group…
The match that is expected from Atleti will not be, in essence, very different from the one Valencia produced, with a proliferation of tough players (Mario, Raúl García, Saúl, Gabi). That is, a physical clash, tactical and fixed on distracting the opponent, in open play or from set pieces.
Over there, using the strategy, they cause a lot of harm to teams like Madrid. There is very little use for homework, to analyse videos and memorising pictures.
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