Atlético Madrid have now won six in a row in La Liga, with a Julián Alvarez goal just after halftime enough to see off Deportivo A Coruña at the Metropolitano.
The win stretches their unbeaten run to eight games across all competitions, seven wins and a draw, and equals their third-best start to a league season after 10 games.
Diego Simeone was clear earlier this week that Atleti can challenge Barcelona, and this win moves the Rojiblancos to within two points of the league leaders. Tomorrow’s Clásico result could go a long way toward defining this early-season narrative.
For now, let’s dive into the takeaways from today.
Slow out the blocks, again
After a very poor first half in Stuttgart earlier in the week, Atleti carried right on in that vein at home. The hosts never really wanted to seize the initiative – seven shots, none of which troubled Leo Román in goal. In truth, it was Deportivo who should have led, when Lorenzo Amatucci should have tapped in from close range after a dangerous Yeremay Hernández free kick.
For the most part, it felt like Atleti were missing Jonathan David. He has stepped up so unexpectedly to become such a crucial part of this side that his absence is now felt in a big way. Nearly every attack lacked a presence in the box, and it looked a lot like the early-season games, before the window shut and David arrived. Only Lee Kang-in managed a shot from inside the penalty area in the first half, which says plenty about the quality of chances Atleti were creating.
In seasons past, this is exactly the sort of game Deportivo would have scored in and turned the evening on its head. Credit where it is due to the defense, though. Jan Oblak was brilliant yet again, and the back line in front of him, despite a few lapses in concentration, recovered and held on for the most part. The improvement in that department, even with Cristian Romero’s injury problems, cannot be understated. It gives Atleti a platform to stay in games, especially when they start as slowly as they did here.
Apologies on and off the pitch
In that first half, it looked like another questionable Julián performance. He was dropping too deep, giving his teammates nothing to aim for inside the box, and it really hampered Atleti’s chance creation. There were whistles. Not as many as when he first returned to the side, but they were still there. For much of those 45 minutes, I thought this might be one of those games where he is brought off to give the other in-form attackers a chance of finding three points.
Then came the moment. It had been 347 days since Alvarez last scored in La Liga at the Metropolitano, and 395 since his last league goal from open play. Early in the second half, he finally crashed the box. There was a clear shift in Atleti’s approach, with more players committed forward and driving into the area, and Alvarez’s goal arrived when Alejandro Grimaldo slipped him an inch-perfect ball to tap home.
A goal in midweek in Stuttgart, an assist at Espanyol last weekend, and now, finally, a goal at the Metropolitano. The week of La Araña’s apology on the pitch.
If the reaction of the majority, though not all, of the crowd is anything to go by, the more Alvarez keeps scoring, the easier it will be for them to forget past misgivings and accept him back. The Spidey celebration did come out, but notably not toward the supporters as it usually is. It was a more muted version, aimed at the sidelines. There is still some way to go before he can turn and face them.
And then, as I was putting together my thoughts on the on-pitch apology, an off-pitch one followed. In his post-match interview, Alvarez apologized directly to the fans. He said the supporters have “always been very generous” with him, and that what he said during the World Cup about wanting a transfer was a mistake on his part, because “it was neither the right moment nor the right way to handle things.” He added that he understood the anger and would have been angry too if he were a fan, that he now has to focus on improving, and that “it is time to compete for everything.”
Truth be told, there will not be a better time for Alvarez to start winning the fans back. Atlético head into a key stretch of the season with some massive games to come. Bayern Munich visit the Metropolitano in the Champions League at the start of November, and five days later, Barcelona arrive in the league. That second game would be the first time Alvarez faces the Blaugrana since pushing all summer for a move to join them.
We may still not have the Alvarez of the last couple of seasons back, but today marks another major turning point in this saga. A goal against the league leaders in two weeks would go a long way toward mending the relationship between player and supporters.
Early Halloween scare
Atleti should have come away from this game a bit more comfortably, but they squandered a few really good chances. Pretty tellingly though, they actually conceded the better ones. The xG finished at 1.37 for the Rojiblancos and 1.95 for Deportivo.
The image of Kevin Sánchez’s miss in the dying seconds is already circulating on social media. Adama Traoré whipped in an excellent cross that found the Spaniard inside the six-yard box, and the chance looked harder to miss than to score. Eventually though, Oblak gratefully collected the ball in his arms after looking well beaten. Between that and Amatucci’s chance in the first half, the hosts really pushed the limits, toeing the line between a win and dropped points.
The end result is still positive, and the general feeling after this one should be too. The good news is that this side can win without being at its best, something Atleti missed in past seasons, the consistency of picking up points on days like this.
But there are warning signs showing despite the run of form. If Atleti want to show they are capable of winning silverware this year, they will need to see out games better and capitalize when they are ahead.
Between Alvarez’s goal in the 48th minute and Deportivo’s late flurry, Atleti outshot their opponents 11-2, and on a number of attacks they looked favorites to get the second goal that would have sealed the points. Alexander Sørloth’s introduction brought more energy, and watching back some of those sequences, it almost seems harder to explain how Simeone’s side did not find a second.
That is now four of the six wins in this run that the Rojiblancos have taken by a single goal. Real Madrid is one thing, but Alavés, Espanyol and Deportivo A Coruña are exactly the kind of opponents you would expect them to beat more comfortably than they have.
It is very positive that Atleti keep finding ways to pull wins out of the bag. But dropping points in games like these can prove costly over the course of a season, and this was another warning sign that things may not always be as green as they seem. Heed it, start seeing games out better, and close the door properly once the breakthrough comes.
Halloween is around the corner, but no more last-second scares, please.