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Atletico Madrid secured a shocking victory over Paris Saint-Germain on the Parc des Princes within the fourth spherical of the Champions League group stage, in what was arguably a basic Diego Simeone triumph.
Warren Zaire-Emery broke the impasse within the 14th minute for PSG, however the Ligue 1 champions have been pulled again by Nahuel Molina solely 4 minutes later. And as their strain elevated in the direction of the tip, Atletico burst right into a counterattack within the third minute of second-half stoppage time and Angel Correa received a late winner for the Rojiblancos.
The groups
Luis Enrique within the residence dugout named Gianluigi Donnarumma in objective. Marquinhos and Willian Pacho paired up within the coronary heart of defence, flanked by Nuno Mendes on the left and Achraf Hakimi on the precise. Vitinha anchored the midfield, joined by Zaire-Emery and Joao Neves. Up entrance, Ousmane Dembele and Bradley Barcola supported Marco Asensio within the central attacking position.
In the meantime, Jan Oblak stood between the posts for Atletico. The again 4 consisted of Clement Lenglet, Axel Witsel, Molina and Javi Galan. The midfield line had Pablo Barrios alongside Rodrigo De Paul within the center, and Conor Gallagher and Giuliano Simeone out extensive. Julian Alvarez partnered Antoine Griezmann in assault.
The sport
The stats from the match go a great distance in telling the story of its movement. PSG ended up with 72% of possession and 22 pictures taken, 9 on the right track, in comparison with Atletico’s complete of 4, three on the right track. And but, in opposition to Simeone’s aspect, domination has by no means been a assure for victory, and this contest was no exception.
PSG have been notably higher than their opponents within the first half already, and even Molina’s equalizer got here as a little bit of a shock so rapidly after Zaire-Emery’s opener.
Barcola, Dembele and Hakimi regarded vigorous because the match progressed however wasted quite a few probabilities between them, Asensio was very pale all through and was hooked for Lee Kang-in after simply over an hour, together with Neves who made means for Fabian Ruiz. Simply 5 minutes later, Enrique strengthen his attacking line by introducing striker Randal Kolo Muani as a substitute of Zaire-Emery, and later tried with Want Doue approaching for Dembele; all to no avail.
PSG spent the final couple of minutes of normal time virtually inside Atletico’s field and it appeared the guests’ defence was holding on by a thread doomed ultimately to snap, however on this event, soccer threw the odd-zero on. Griezmann led that deadly counterattack, and having no energy left to race in opposition to the PSG defence, he despatched a move throughout the pitch with pin-point accuracy, discovering Correa on the sting of the field. A lot brisker than the gamers standing in his means, the Atletico substitute burst in and scored, delivering an enormous blow to the house aspect, their supervisor and their followers.
The standings
Following the video games performed on Wednesday, Atletico nonetheless have so much to do to safe a spot within the knockout phases. With two victories and two defeats, they sit in twenty third place with six factors to their identify.
The Rojiblancos journey to Prague to conflict with Sparta subsequent within the competitors, earlier than welcoming Slovan Bratislava to Madrid. The stage might be set for a correct showdown when Bayer Leverkusen come to the Wanda Metrolopolitano in January, adopted by the conclusion of the stage away to RB Salzburg.
Nonetheless, the state of affairs has turn into downright alarming for PSG, who at the moment are twenty fifth with simply 5 factors, they usually play all their remaining matches of the group stage away from residence, other than welcoming Manchester Metropolis to the French capital.
It’ll be an enormous problem subsequent as they journey to Munich to face Bayern after home challenges in opposition to Angers and Toulouse. Then it’s away to RB Salzburg, earlier than the Premier League champions come to city. Enrique’s aspect finish the stage with one other journey to Germany, the place they’ll face VfB Stuttgart.
Gallagher flying excessive at Atletico
All through his spell at Chelsea, Gallagher was ceaselessly linked with departure from Stamford Bridge, and even despatched out on a number of mortgage spells. The reluctance of various managers to provide him an actual likelihood and fixed studies claiming he had no future with the London Blues have been considerably bewildering, provided that his performances warranted a bit of religion. They ultimately offloaded him to Atletico for £34 million this summer time, and the La Liga aspect definitely haven’t regretted a single penny of that cash.
Embed from Getty Pictures
It took the 24-year-old England worldwide little or no time to select up his first Participant of the Month award for his new membership, and it’s not an overstatement to say he’s presently thriving in Simeone’s setup. His ranges of perseverance on the pitch usually stand out, very harking back to what gamers like Gabi and Koke have been doing for the Rojiblancos for a really very long time.
On this explicit recreation, he was deployed on the left aspect of midfield, and he had frequent duels with Hakimi and Dembele, largely stifling their affect on the sport down that flank. Molina could have scored the equalizer and Correa could have come off the bench to turn into the hero, however Gallagher’s contribution was simply as very important for this excellent success by Atletico.
It will certainly be fascinating to listen to the ideas of Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca on this topic.
