Yannick Ferreira Carrasco Combines Old and New Atletico to Announce Himself
VICENTE CALDERON, MADRID — It was a standing ovation, an almighty one. Ten minutes earlier, there'd been something similar for Jackson Martinez, but this was different. It wasn't just a standing ovation, it was a deafening ovation. Led by ultra group Frente behind the southern goal, "Carrasco, Carrasco" roared around the stands, 50,000 in unison effectively making it official.
Yannick Ferreira Carrasco had announced himself.
Some, of course, will insist he'd actually done so four nights earlier, when Atletico Madrid hosted Astana inside the very same arena. That night, Carrasco had put on a personal exhibition of now-you-see-me-now-you-don't football, but that was Astana—a Kazakhstani outfit playing more than 3,000 miles from home and who'd sent a second-string side to prioritise their league campaign.
This, though—this was Valencia.
Last season, Nuno Espirito Santo's side twice unsettled Atleti. At Mestalla, Los Che launched a breathtaking 15-minute assault to hammer them; at the Calderon, they happily indulged in a scrap like few other visiting sides do to leave with a point.
For Diego Simeone's men last term, it wasn't just that Valencia weren't intimidated by them; it's that Valencia could match them, punch for punch. Sharing certain qualities with Atleti—strong, intense, direct in method, in your face—Nuno's outfit became an uncomfortable opponent for Simeone and Co., almost bordering on a like-for-like adversary.
But not on Sunday.
Admittedly, this season's Valencia just isn't like last season's, and on Sunday at the Calderon, Atletico made it clear there remains a gulf between the sides, reinforcing that it's they who lead the race to become Spain's third power. Off the field, Valencia might be making ground, but on it at this very moment, Atleti are pulling away faster than Carrasco's footwork—the footwork that's delighting one half of the capital.
Indeed, after torching Astana in his first 90-minute appearance of the season on Wednesday, Carrasco produced a repeat performance here, in the process achieving something that's often beyond brand-new signings during settling-in periods: domination of a rival, a theoretical equal.
Personal domination.
Though he started the night on the right, it was when he switched to the left that he made this occasion his own. Full of tricks, his confidence soaring, the Belgian terrorised Valencia right-back Joao Cancelo. In the most bullish of moods, he lured the Portuguese (and others) toward him before flashing by. When they crowded him, he danced through them; when there was space in front, he blazed through in a slalom.
It was what Atletico had seen in Carrasco when they took him from Monaco. A dynamic and unpredictable ball-carrying wide man, the 22-year-old would give Simeone's XI something else, something different. In midfield, they had strength and they had passing vision, but they didn't have something more explosive.
Now they do.
In essence, what the club now has in Carrasco is an embodiment of the evolving mentality at the Calderon. All summer, Simeone spoke of making this team faster, sharper and more threatening, demanding his side add some electricity to their efficiency.
Carrasco is that quality.
Yet concurrently, Simeone stressed the importance of Atleti not losing their sense of who they are.
Regardless of attacking transformations, this team would still be required to out-fight and out-work their opponents, the relentless intensity still an expectation. In short, the idea was to oversee an enhanced Atleti rather than an entirely different one. And it's why Carrasco's performance on Sunday was so noteworthy.
Though the dazzling highlights remain most vivid in the memory, this was a performance of two-way commitment from the Belgian. In addition to the tricks and highlight-reel content, there were tackles, defensive runs and regular bouts of pressing, his stunning solo goal a direct result of his harassing of Enzo Perez.
On the sideline, Simeone would have been delighted, for this was a truly sparkling all-round performance. The numbers said so, too: Carrasco took the joint-most shots on goal of any player from either side, he completed the most dribbles, he made the second most interceptions and he laid the third-most tackles.
Atletico, the old and the new.
"Carrasco is growing based on the effort he made to suit the characteristics of the team," said Simeone afterward, via David Manuca of Goal.com. "He is a player that has certain attributes, that why he is at Atletico."
You sense he couldn't be in a better place, either. This is a club and a manager who took Antoine Griezmann from raw talent to bona fide star in less than a year, and already there are similarities in the way Carrasco is following the Frenchman's path, learning to embrace the Atletico way after initially struggling with it. Learning to embrace a ferocious Simeone.
"It was a little difficult to adapt," said Atleti's Man of the Match on Sunday of his early months at the Calderon, via Ainhoa Sanchez of Marca. "But now I'm good physically and in all other departments as well."
That he is. And the Frente love it. The Calderon loves it. Atletico Madrid love it.
"Carrasco, Carrasco," will be roared some more.
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