Oblak, Atlético’s safety net at Anoeta | OneFootball

Atlético return to Anoeta this weekend, a ground that stirs good memories for Jan Oblak.

AS notes that the venue suited him last season. He made seven saves there, posted 0.88 goals prevented and was crucial to the draw.

A year on, the focus falls on the Slovene again. Atlético travel to San Sebastián with doubts at the back, eight conceded in their first five competitive games, an average of 1.6 that sits among the weakest starts of the Simeone era.

Even so, Oblak keeps delivering. He remains one of the few constants in a defence overhauled in recent months, with Cuti Romero arriving, the full-backs changing and new partnerships still bedding in.

The data underlines an unusual reality for him. Since winning the Zamora in 2020/21 and helping Atlético to the title with only 25 conceded, he had not opened a campaign with numbers this high.

Several of Atlético’s best displays so far bear his stamp. Against Liverpool he prevented a heavier defeat with a series of fine saves and in other games he has steadied them in fraught moments.

So Anoeta again looks significant. He won his personal duel there last term and, with the back line still under construction, Atlético look once more to the goalkeeper who has been Simeone’s safety net for more than a decade.

Source: AS

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”