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In the end, the Champions League reduced Atlético to a home team. They have only the league and cup left to try and commemorate a fateful season just weeks before the World Cup break. Europe has portrayed an irregular side unable to sign a round game either home or away. He signed his European epitaph in Porto against a side that seemed content to wait for their deranged rivals’ numerous concessions. Quite paradoxically for a team that has carved out its triumphs with Simeone as the grand champion, plundering the opponent’s mistakes. His continental funeral maliciously associated with the Day of the Dead and even his coach’s dark attire. When the landscape darkens for Atlético, it’s full. A draw would have been enough, as Leverkusen and Bruges drew 0-0 at the BayArena.
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Fábio Cardoso, Evanilson (Toni Martínez, min. 81), Pepê (Rodrigo Conceicao, min. 88), Zaidu Sanusi (Wendell, min. 52), Stephen Eustáquio, Marko Grujic, Mehdi Taremi, Wanderson Galeno (Bernardo Pereira Folha, min .. 89), Otavinho (Gonçalo Borges, min. 89), Diogo Costa and Marcano
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Griezmann, João Félix (Matheus Cunha, min. 60), Saúl (Carrasco, min. 60), Savic, Correa (Pablo Barrios Rivas, min. 85), De Paul, Oblak, Reinildo Mandava, Giménez, Nahuel Molina and Witsel
Gates 1-0 mins 5: Mehdi Taremi. 2-0 min 24: Stephen Eustace. 2-1 min. 94: Marcano (p.).
referee Daniele Orsato
Yellow cards Marko Grujic (38′), Reinildo Mandava (41′), Savic (48′) and De Paul (68′)
Role in major European competition has pushed Atlético to last place in a group where neither Porto, Brugge nor Leverkusen can boast of having a better squad than the Rojiblancos. The loss of image and prestige is devastating. Only one game won and two draws out of six games played. Five shaky points that kept him out of Europe for the rest of the season.
The bump is old-fashioned, loaded with high doses of pessimism and disappointment that are fueling debate over whether the Simeone era is closer to the end than a new reconstruction. The symptoms offered in Portugal do not invite optimism. He had to win to qualify for the Europa League dispute and he didn’t even come close. He was surpassed from start to finish. It didn’t matter that João Félix formed an attack with Griezmann.
At O Dragão, Atlético presented themselves as a soul in pain, still emotionally pounded by the recent setbacks of Carrasco’s ill-fated penalty against Leverkusen and the painful defeat of Cádiz. The pass to no one that De Paul gave after kick-off was a harbinger of what happened. Atlético had neither two passes nor a half. Even less defensive rigor. The fragility on display betrayed a pulseless group, hopelessly crushed with every blow they received. And when his rival didn’t do enough to tip him, Simeone’s footballers gave it to him.
That Savic and Giménez formed the coach’s fetish couple didn’t matter. Both were protagonists of the gifts that determined the duel when the half hour was not yet over. First it was the Uruguayan, along with Saúl, who couldn’t read a filtered passport from Otavio. Nahuel Molina was also unaware that Taremi came up behind him to cross the trajectory of Evanilson’s bitten shot. So, the blush was the final production of the goal as the beginning of pregnancy. A comfortable transition that saw the Porto players run in open space until they got close to Oblak’s area. The Slovenian goalkeeper prevented further humiliation. He had to take a shot off foot from Galeno which offered the entire goal for the often Brazilian winger. The piece had been constructed by Saúl at a loss in a bad delivery in the area’s balcony.
It wasn’t long before Atlético invited Porto to score. This time it was Savic who botched a running clearance, with Galeno harassing him on the edge of the area. The offer was crowned with a central defender and a dry and explosive shot from Eustaquio. Another nail for the coffin.
Two goals in less than half an hour by a team without rebellion. Out of himself and out of context, without accepting the reality he lives and has to face and solve. With his head still pondering his European penance, he’s more than into a game that calls for at least greater competitive pride. Sign after sign, there was hardly any trace of the identity that Simeone cultivated over these 10 long years. The necessary rebellion in the face of the looming debacle was testimony. Only in the final minutes, as Porto recovered, did he manage to tease the unprecedented Diogo Costa for almost an hour.
It boded badly for Atlético that Oblak was their best player. Between their interventions and the poor aim of Porto’s attackers, they avoided a big taunt. The Portuguese champions’ own goal, which ended the goal in added time, was a devilishly tongue-in-cheek. It had to be his rival who scored. The last shovel of his European funeral.
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