How Diego Simeone Has Turned Angel Correa into Atletico Madrid's Super-Sub

There were so many great attacking players on show at the Camp Nou on Wednesday night, but ultimately, as in a lot of games featuring Atletico Madrid, it was the defenders who came out on top.

At least for the first hour, anyway.

The likes of Barcelona’s Gerard Pique and Atletico’s Diego Godin were superb in what was a genuine clash of the titans, with Diego Simeone’s Atletico going toe-to-toe with the Liga title favourites and frustrating the life out of them.

Barcelona, of course, is the home to the famed “MSN” attacking trio, but none of them were able to shine on an evening where chances were at a premium.

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Lionel Messi was often seen dropping deeper and trying to influence the game from there, but such was the immovable object in front of him that he was unable to do so, before he eventually left the pitch just before the hour mark.

Luis Suarez had one of his poorer outings in a Barca shirt, never quite finding that type of piercing opening that he specialises in and ultimately leaving the match as a frustrated figure—something that he hasn’t often been used to as he starts out on his third season at the club.

Neymar—despite his shocking blond look—continued what is perhaps an Olympic Games hangover as he loitered on the fringes of the match, never quite injecting his outrageous qualities upon it and eventually slipping away from it quietly.

And those attacking woes weren’t just evident on the home side of things, either.

Atletico struggled to get moving in an attacking sense for much of the first hour—admittedly because they often didn’t try to.

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That said, whenever the visitors tried to come forward, Kevin Gameiro didn’t do an awful lot during his hour on the pitch bar chase down lost causes or run down blind alleys. This wasn’t the type of game that the Frenchman was brought in from Sevilla for, and it ultimately showed.

His strike partner Antoine Griezmann—perhaps taking his cue from Messi, but more likely Simeone—was often seen dropping deeper and deeper to try to influence the game, with his quality on the ball evidently apparent but always somewhat wasted so far from goal.

It wasn’t a game in which both attacks went toe-to-toe, then, and so it wasn’t too surprising that it was a midfielder, Ivan Rakitic, who opened the scoring.

And after Barca had taken the lead it needed an injection of something different for Atletico to prosper, and for Simeone the phrase “something different” has come to mean one man.

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Angel Correa was called from the bench for the fourth time in five Atletico league games this season, and surely not even he could have imagined that things would turn out as well as they did for him so soon.

Latching on to a clever flick from Fernando Torres—another wise substitute to bring on in a time of crisis—Correa expertly controlled the ball and finished coolly to level the scores and stun the Camp Nou, with the fact that the goal came immediately after the withdrawal of the stricken Messi only adding to a sense of dread in Catalonia.

The manner of Correa’s goal meant that it drew comparisons with a similar effort from Sergio Aguero when he was in a red-and-white Atletico shirt 10 years ago, and while it is far too early to be making such lofty comparisons about his compatriot, you can see just why Simeone rates Correa so highly.

The manager has turned to him on various occasions already this season.

Before the Barcelona game, the most notable examples of that were his lively performance in Atletico’s opening match of the season as they unsuccessfully tried to turn one point against Alaves into three, while more recently he scored the fourth and final goal in the victory over Celta Vigo.

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He tries to make things happen, basically, and that perhaps comes as a consequence of a tough start to his personal and footballing life during which he lost both his father and brother, while discovering a heart problem that looked set to end his football career before it even started.

He battled through, though, and it is those battling qualities that Simeone has clearly taken a shine to as he looks to make Correa a key player in his plans for this season.

In a profile on the Rosario-born player for FourFourTwo last December, writer Jorge Satorre outlined his key strengths, all of which make him an almost ideal player to bring on when the chips are down.

Satorre wrote:

"

The Rosarino has a low centre of gravity, which makes him a very difficult player to defend against. He also possesses excellent technique, speed and something very important to any good attacking player: a great first touch.

However, his key attribute that sometimes goes under the radar is his mental strength. The difficult issues Correa has faced throughout his life have turned him into someone who never gives up. His work rate and unceasing tenacity are clear.

"

We’ve all heard stories about footballers who have got far in the game on those final two qualities alone, and so there is little wonder why Atletico fans are excited about the development of Correa, even though he may have limited game time in the short term. This season is likely to continue to see him used from the bench more often than not as Griezmann, Gameiro and Torres take striking seniority.

However, by scoring against Barcelona, the 21-year-old will have given Simeone food for thought, and it is clear that his development is going to be shaped by his fellow countryman over the campaign.

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Former Barcelona and Argentina manager Gerardo Martino, another compatriot, is also a fan. He said, per Satorre: “Sometimes it’s confusing where he’s playing. He’s a player with a half-defined position. I’m not that interested in where he plays. He has the capacity for goals.”

And that, in a nutshell, is why Simeone has turned Correa into his super-sub.

So much about the Atletico coach’s game is about control, and exerting authority and machismo over football matches, that it is possible that he sees Correa as his little spark, his ignition who perhaps still can’t be trusted with a 90-minute appearance but who can create havoc over 20 or 30.

And he’ll go on hoping that he can do that.

Correa has youth on his side, after all, but after succeeding where some big-name forwards failed on Wednesday night, his confidence is sure to be sky-high heading into the weekend meeting with Deportivo La Coruna.

Although it would be no surprise if Simeone put him on the bench again.