Against Juventus, the team that wants him, with whom he has played the last two courses, Álvaro Morata highlighted his impressive moment, scoring twice in the first half and crucial in the third goal, to launch Atlético de Madrid at full speed Madrid towards the start of LaLiga Santander on Monday, August 15, with an outstanding full of victories, the last incontestable against a rival from the Champions League, which he surpassed from the beginning and even missed a penalty, saved by Szczesny against Joao Félix (0-4).
Atletico is ready. Their duel at the Continassa Sports Center, where the match was moved due to security concerns generated by the match in Tel Aviv due to the escalation of violence in the area, reaffirmed a team that began its preparation less than a month ago, he came into play a week and a half ago and feels strong, round and ready to compete for anything. It is the requirement. No excuses or middle ground.
The rojiblanco team is no longer satisfied with just entering the Champions League in each of the last ten years. It is the objective of the club. But the team is not enough 'only' with that. Neither last season, when he separated too soon from competing for the title, nor this season, in which he once again challenges himself to win as much as he can. There are eight titles in the Simeone era. Atlético wants more. And he has designed a block to achieve it.
Morata is in full vindication. He has a lot to say in this Atlético, if he finally stays in it. His preseason leaves no room for doubt. Scorer last Thursday in the Ramón de Carranza Trophy against Cádiz, but also remarkable in each and every one of the aspects of the game that are required of a striker, the Spanish team's scorer highlighted his qualities in the staging against Juventus, the team that wants it and which he beat in 10 minutes, with a movement very typical of his profile.
His perfect unchecking between the central defenders, benefited by the mismatch of Danilo on the right side, was the invitation that Joao Félix needed to give him the pass that promoted the 0-1, transformed first, with the left, with a good definition by Morata . The goal came from a counterattack and elegant driving by Joao, a footballer whose current moment insists that he can be whatever he wants. He needs to see it all.
A reward for Atlético, who feel good, competitive, precise, overflowing, incisive and forceful in the area, the most conclusive and incontestable factor in football for Simeone. It was the rojiblanco team against Numancia (0-4), against Manchester United (0-1), against Cádiz (1-4) and this Sunday against Juventus (0-4). The result is four wins, thirteen goals for and only one against. He is ready to compete.
Because his physical evolution was also visible. His rhythm already seemed competitive, like any of his individuals, such as Joao Félix, Morata, Koke in charge in the midfield, Marcos Llorente, Lemar, Saúl, Savic, Reinildo, Molina, Witsel again as central and protagonist of another occasion to stopped ball even with 0-0 on the scoreboard. Already at 0-1, Koke hit a beautiful volley that was not a goal due to Szczesny's equally magnificent stretch and Joao Félix missed a penalty, saved in a commendable way by the goalkeeper before the break.
The action that originated the maximum penalty, like so many others that he developed in the first half, confirmed the point in which Atlético is and moves better; in the stealing of the ball, the quick start to the attack, the fast combinations and the verticality that Simeone demands in each attack, like the one personified again by Morata, who surpassed Bonucci in the melee in the midfield, ran, He drove the ball and planted himself in the opposite area, where he broke Bremer with his left, with which he clinched the 0-2. Minute 42.
Vlahovic did not have a single chance, Di María was hardly seen, at no time did Juventus threaten Ivo Grbic's goal, Oblak's substitute, until the 56th minute, until Miretti tested it with a low shot, when the match It was already 0-2, when the Italian team raised the intensity and their handling of possession, when Atlético faced another duel that they also won, because not only did they not receive any damage to their goal, but they also increased their advantage, in a foul launched by Lemar that Morata did not manage to comb with his head (at least, he gestured that he had not touched it), and ended in 0-3. Carrasco could still score the 0-4, which was achieved by Cunha at the end.
And the first day in Getafe is already looming. The eleven is almost defined. In each Simeone preseason, the initial team of the last friendly starts LaLiga. Will it be like this this season? Predictably, yes. Even conditioned by the losses this Sunday of Oblak and Giménez, two undisputed players, or the convalescence of Carrasco, who arrived just for the match, with those exceptions, the line-up that he proposed in Turin has a lot of headlines for Monday. He played 64 minutes. With 0-3. So, he changed to eight: only Koke (replaced in 83 by the debutant Marco Moreno), Witsel and Grbic followed.
On these lines, at least, the idea of the coach circulates today, with playing with Álvaro Morata (conclusive scorer in the preseason with three goals in the last two duels and likely to start on Monday, even though the resolution of his future is still in the atmosphere) and Joao Félix up front. That would mean that Antoine Griezmann would not have a place in the first eleven of Simeone's eleventh project. Neither did Matheus Cunha and Correa.
Marcos Llorente, Koke Resurrección and Thomas Lemar point to the midfield, with Nahuel Molina at right back and Stefan Savic and Reinildo Mandava at center back (the Mozambican could also be left back, depending on the system). Oblak would enter for Grbic, perhaps Giménez for Witsel and Carrasco for Saúl (or Molina). It would be (and will be, except for surprise) the eleven, within the mutable system with which Simeone has structured his team, in a 5-3-2 that becomes a 4-4-2 depending on the game. Or vice versa.
0 - Juventus: Szczesny; Danilo (Rugani, m. 68), Bonucci (Miretti, m. 46), Bremer, Alex Sandro (De Sciglio, m. 46); Zakaria (Gatti, m. 46), Locatelli, Fagioli (Rabiot, m. 46 (Barbieri, m. 68)); Di Maria (Rovella, m. 68), Vlahovic, Soulé.
3 - Atletico Madrid: Grbic; Molina (Carrasco, m. 66), Savic (Wass, m. 66), Witsel, Reinildo (Hermoso, m. 66); Llorente (Correa, m. 66), Koke (Marco Moreno, m. 83), Lemar (Kondogbia, m. 66), Saúl (Lodi, m. 66); Morata (Cunha, m. 66), Joao Felix (Griezmann, m. 66).
Goal: 0-1, meters. 10: Morata. 0-2 meters 42: Morata. 0-3, m. 62: Lemar. 0-4, m. 91: Junha.
Referee: Paride Tremolada (Italy).
Incidents: friendly match played at the Juventus Continassa Sports Center, without an audience.
