The start of the second round has not gone well for Atlético. After the defeat in Leganés he hoped to regroup in his field, with his team and against Villarreal, but he could only add one point in his career in the League. Their dominance of possession was not reflected in the areas, where Lino saved a point from the three that escaped after a horrible defensive play by Witsel and Reinildo. The Belgian poorly controlled a ball in the area with his knee and the Mozambican, to correct his mistake, took Gerard Moreno ahead. It was the Villarreal captain himself who launched from the spot to put his team ahead.
The comeback, a custom for Atlético this season, this time was left half-done. Simeone’s team had more of the ball, but they did not take advantage of it and Villarreal, meanwhile, tried to take advantage of the counterattacks.
In one of them he was very close to scoring the second, but Yeremy Pino had plenty of generosity. Witsel prevented his pass from reaching Gerard Moreno and the counterattack that Álex Baena had masterfully managed came to nothing.
This happened at the beginning of the second half, when Simeone had already changed the team at half-time. Lino, Azpilicueta and De Paul entered instead of Reinildo, Giuliano and Gallagher. Cholo recovered the defense of five so that his team had more depth on the wings and the reward was Samu Lino’s goal for the tie. The Brazilian finished off a ball that Júnior, Villarreal’s goalkeeper, had left loose, and gave his team hope of finding a better life in the remainder of the second half.
But he didn’t have it despite the entry of Griezmann, whom the fans received with an immense ovation. How far away those whistles are in the game of his return to Atlético. But the Frenchman was not able to turn around a match that for a stretch was filled with too much tension. The protests over a foul by Baena against Julián Álvarez ended with a yellow for the Argentine and the expulsion of one of Simeone’s assistants.
Atlético poured into the Villarreal area in the final minutes. Correa came close to scoring, but this time it was not one of those days in which he usually rescues his team. The red and whites got on the back of De Paul, always physically spirited and frequently successful in the last pass. It is also not uncommon for your understanding to become clouded from time to time and you have a hard time choosing the best option. Llorente got angry with him on the last play for not giving him the ball to continue progressing down the wing instead of centering into the area. And so Atlético lost the opportunity to come back.