Report: Slip-up at Balaídos shaped by circumstances | OneFootball

A day of downturn, after the good performances against Rayo, Real Madrid, and Eintracht. Just when the international break was coming and a win would have left us in the Champions League spots, we shot ourselves in the foot (yet again), with a red card to Lenglet in the 39th minute, making it very difficult to achieve the fourth consecutive victory.

We started strong again, even scoring in the early stages of the match, as has been usual in recent games, but it wasn't the early goal that was most decisive in the match at Balaidos.

A very quick and well-executed transition between Griezmann and Barrios, who saw the youth player starting from our own half, executing the counter perfectly, but the pass of death didn't reach the spider, instead, Starfelt (the Swede from Celta) tried to clear the ball unsuccessfully, which ended up in the net for the first goal of the match in the 6th minute.

Atleti was controlling the game well, even when Celta had the ball, as we defended well and created chances, like one from Hancko and another from Nico with a pass from Koke (placing it between the defenders), but without luck on both occasions.

But the 24th minute came with the first yellow for Lenglet, and the second in the 39th minute, after a childish loss in the midfield, and a worse subsequent decision, grabbing the opponent, who quickly went to the ground, giving the referee (Cesar Soto Grado) the opportunity to show the second yellow.

Without getting into the strictness of the second card, the Atleti center-back was not at all accurate. First, for the poor control being close to the sideline and in the midfield, second for not running after the Celta player and then trying to go to the ground to steal the ball, instead of grabbing him immediately (as he did), which dramatized the situation even more to receive another card.

In my opinion, we made it too easy, but the second card is very strict (especially considering the standard with both teams throughout the match), but Lenglet's management in this play was not the smartest.

The plans went up in smoke, although the red-and-whites held on for the last five minutes, the Celta's push, in a first half where Koke, Griezmann, and Barrios shone.

The expulsion and fatigue took their toll

After the break, Atleti was different from the one against Mallorca, with one less player. They proposed, defended well, but there were too many minutes and Celta's push was constant, although Atleti did have phases where they could generate play, but not only with the condition of having one less, they also lost one of their great references at halftime (Griezmann was sacrificed at halftime to restructure the play) and then when they also lost the brain of Koke, who after a great effort, was replaced by Gallagher.

At that moment, the options to generate with ten, which we were doing, ended. Even more so when the locals scored the equalizer in the 68th minute, with Iago Aspas already on the field, with a quick play by Mingueza, entering from the right to put a low ball into the area, which the Panda finished, Oblak stopping that attack, but leaving the ball dead on the line, Aspas hammering in the equalizer.

Hancko was a bit asleep in that second action, where Celta's emblem was very attentive, in a very important match for him, personally and in Celta's history (number of matches played with the club).

In the final stretch, corner kicks stood out, where Julián Alvarez tried to score an Olympic goal and Le Normand had another chance to score with a header. By the way, great defensive game by Le Normand, who made a great effort in defense and also in advancing to the area, the same as Marcos Llorente (as almost always).

In the end, with Sorloth on the field, they tried to hang aerial balls and look for extensions, which did not end up generating the danger sought. But a draw was achieved and a bit of a downturn, on a day when Barça had lost and it was a good opportunity to close the gap and prevent Madrid from distancing themselves again.

It couldn't be done, and we have eight matches, with only three wins and 13 points. We must keep working to finally find the compass pointing definitively north. There are still missing pieces and in some matches, there have been conditions... but well, we are in October and we must keep working.

Apart from the red card, I liked the team, so I am optimistic, despite the bad start to the season.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.