Ahead of Barcelona Test, Atletico Madrid Show They've Got 3 Good Forwards Too
Just like Barcelona, Atletico Madrid have three impressive forwards. And ahead of the pair’s meeting at the Camp Nou on Wednesday night, Saturday afternoon offered up the perfect reminder of that.
While Barca were putting five goals past Leganes—Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar all scoring within the first 44 minutes, conveniently in that “MSN” order—Atletico were preparing for a clash at home to Sporting Gijon.
Having slipped up early in the campaign—with Leganes the scene of two dropped points—the pressure was on. Goals were called for, on more than just these pages, but luckily enough, Atletico have the players to provide them when the setup behind them is right.
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And it was right on Saturday.
Antoine Griezmann and Kevin Gameiro struck within the first five minutes to leave Sporting dazed.
Another Griezmann goal came shortly after the half-hour mark, and it was left to Fernando Torres—now the grand old statesman of the Vicente Calderon—to kill off the visitors with two goals in the final 18 minutes to round out the 5-0 win.
And this result shouldn’t be dismissed too easily, even though there are quite obviously bigger tests to come.
The victory meant Atletico have scored nine goals in their last two matches in LaLiga, having had just a solitary penalty to show for efforts in the first 180 minutes of their league campaign. Sporting, quietly impressive up until now, conceded five goals in an afternoon having only shipped two in three games before that.
Is this evidence of a new, rip-roaring Atletico? Well, not quite.
The cautious, calculated side of Diego Simeone’s team is still very much alive and was in evidence in the classic, Cholistic 1-0 win at PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, but this at least showed that the Argentinian coach has learned from his mistakes at the beginning of the campaign.
After fielding a midfield four of Koke, Gabi, Tiago and Saul Niguez, who all do their best work centrally, in the opening game against newly-promoted Alaves, the emphasis was clearly different on Saturday against Sporting.
Out went Gabi and Tiago, with their replacements, Yannick Carrasco and full debutant Nicolas Gaitan, ensuring Koke and Saul moved inside to the centre, and there was a greater attacking thrust coming all across the midfield.
Simeone’s defensive instincts were never too far away, and Augusto Fernandez came on for Carrasco when the score was 3-0 at half-time, but he should be forgiven because of how he set his side up.
The approach was designed to get the best out of his strikers, and given Griezmann and Gameiro had both scored within the first five minutes, this was proof it certainly worked.
Although the personnel may change, this should be the ideal strategy for Atletico in the majority of their seemingly winnable home games this season, with the previous approach surely far too passive and this one seeing the hosts dominate both the ball and the direction of traffic in what quickly became a one-sided encounter.
Everything rests on goals, though, and the men who put the game beyond Sporting are flying heading into the Camp Nou clash on Wednesday, with Griezmann going with the praise of his manager ringing in his ears.
“For me, [in the] last year, Griezmann was the best player in Europe,” Simeone said at his post-match press conference. He continued:
"I have no doubt about what I say. He reached the finals of both the Champions League and Euro 2016, scoring many goals, and scored many goals in LaLiga too. The consistency he has makes him stronger. I hope he is up there for the Ballon d'Or, as he is in great form and will get even better if he continues like this.
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Yet the manager seems to know he has a huge part to play in the success of the Frenchman; if Atletico are to open up a little more and create more and more chances, Griezmann has every opportunity to get closer and closer to the stellar scoring feats of the likes of Messi, Suarez and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Atletico began that process in the second half of their previous league game, against Celta Vigo, and continued it here, with Griezmann notching four goals in that time.
With that in mind, it was interesting to hear Simeone admit his team “surprised” Sporting by getting lots of players forward, with Carrasco and Gaitan adding to the attacking mix.
But while those two helped, it was his three forwards who did the main damage.
Although obviously different to the famed Barcelona trio they’ll be coming up against on Wednesday night—largely because of the fact they don’t all play at the same time—the Griezmann, Gameiro, Torres triumvirate—“GGT” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it?—can still be hugely effective.
The French pair linked up well for the opening goal on Saturday afternoon, and from there, they began to show just why Simeone decided to unite them this summer.
As seen in the European Championship, when he linked up well with Olivier Giroud in a France shirt, Griezmann looks so much better when he has a partner willing to do the dirty work for him, but Gameiro offers more than that.
He is a roving goal threat, as his fine strike from distance testified.
That made it two goals and one assist in one full game and five minutes of another one in terms of his home league career for his new club. There have been several dissenters, but that isn’t a bad start.
Running through the centre at pace and with menace, Griezmann was everywhere in the first period, scoring two similar goals that were helped by Gameiro’s running off the ball.
Then when the pair retired to the sidelines—ready to go again on Wednesday—it was left to the Calderon’s resident icon to punch out already stunned opponents.
Helped by fellow substitute Angel Correa—who shouldn’t be left out of the reckoning when considering Atletico’s forward options—Torres first produced a neat, near-post finish to make it 4-0, and for his encore, he rolled home a penalty.
He likely won’t start on Wednesday night, but given the player himself knows he is no longer able to consistently play for 90 minutes, his value is immense to Simeone. With Griezmann and Gameiro doing the hard yards for the opening 60 to 70 minutes of matches, Torres—still a crack finisher—can reap the rewards later on.
Whether that will happen at the Camp Nou remains to be seen, but Atletico could hardly be going there in greater heart, and there will be widespread relief that things have improved immeasurably from the sluggish start to the season.
The strikers have a lot to do with that, and while the feats of the MSN might still be several galaxies away in a state of otherworldly football, Atletico have shown they can score goals too.
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