A bittersweet point for Atleti

For those who have bought into Diego Simeone's public discourse ("our league is with Valencia and Sevilla"), Sunday's draw at the Sánchez Pizjuán will be a decent result. Simeon's Atlético remain comfortably in the Champions League qualifying spots in third place with a point advantage over Valencia, who travel to the Calderón next Sunday, and also eight points of daylight between them and fifth-placed Sevilla. But if you're among those who consider, quite rightly, that a reigning champion should defend their crown to the hilt, it was a bad point. Atleti again didn't give off a good image; there was little ambition for more than an hour, an inability to retain possession and serious problems getting out of their own half when Sevilla pressed upfield. The lean run continues.

Sevilla will have fewer qualms when it comes to analyzing the result: it will look like an opportunity missed from any angle because Unai Emery's team should have won but didn't and because the Champions League is moving beyond their reach at speed. While Simeone set out his stall to invite Sevilla on, to hang on for 70 minutes and then see what God had in store, Emery went for the victory from the outset, with the excellent Ever Banega directing operations and Iborra moving dangerously and freely behind Carlos Bacca.

Atlético attempted to cover up the holes in their confidence with rough cement: three midfielders and Raúl García in an eccentric formation that condemned Gabi to cast light on his own poor form on the right hand side. It was a nightmare. With Mario Mandzukic and Fernando Torres watching from the bench, Arda Turan and Antoine Griezmann disguised themselves as forwards in exile. The ball seemed to the front pair as though it was tennis-sized, always just too far away, in their own half or several metres over their heads. Removed from the ball by the system, Atlético's two best players were barely involved.

Miguel Ángel Moyá thwarted Sevilla's first warning shots, two punts from Bacca and a bad clearance by Tiago, before Iborra got the end of a fantastic Banega ball but sent a good part of the home side's hopes onto the upright. It was the 27th minute and Emery's side wouldn't find themselves that close again. Not that Atlético improved greatly, but little by little their defence harmonized. Or Diego Godín at least; Miranda continues to flap about like a kid in armbands in a swimming pool.

Without much to brag about, the champion reached the break at 0-0 and allowed Simeone to dust off Plan B: Fernando Torres and the yearned for return of Koke in place of Arda and Gabi. El Niño gave Atleti a jump start as soon as he was introduced with a gallop from another era which ended with a pass a little too far behind Griezmann, who couldn't adjust in time. Almost immediately, the roles were reversed: the Frenchman misplaced a pass to Torres and the Spaniard's shot was weak. Atleti were back in existence and doubts crept in.

Emery responded with bold changes of his own: Coke and Alejandro Arribas made way for José Reyes and Stephane Mbia, with Aleix Vidal switching to full back and Grzegorz Krychowiak moving into the centre of defence to put up a bit more resistance to Torres' forays. The Pole's lack of comfort in the back line was displayed on 83 minutes, when he lost the ball foolishly in midfield under pressure from Torres who, after a good couple of jinks, pulled his shot wide.

Atlético's chances embellished a bad game for Simeone's team, who also lost Griezmann for next week's match against Valencia. The France international picked up a caution for a thumping challenge on Vidal that could have been red. A point, then, that will only please those Atlético fans who never believed in another miracle. The dreamers and Sevilla will not sleep easy on Sunday night. With the Champions League the last feasible title, Simeone has work to do: his team has lost intensity and faith. He has two weeks to get them back.

from Últimas noticias | Diario AS http://ift.tt/1AYQEH5

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