I was a guest on Jeremy's 'Colchonero Chat' podcast previewing the match, and now he returns the favor on a postgame pod. We were expecting this to be a tight, exciting match, and so it was, though for the first hour of a 0-0 we thought we might have jinxed it. But then things happened!
We talk about Cholo Simeone's decision to let Villarreal have most of the possession in the first 30 minutes or so--a sign of respect for Nico Jackson's speed, or hoping we would turn the ball over in midfield? Whatever, it didn't work as Villarreal dominated the first half and were unlucky not to go in with a lead.
Second half we knew Atleti would change things up,and they did, dominating the third quarter of the match and pushing the Yellow Submarine back. But strangely enough, Villarreal's first goal came from the sort of counter--indirectly, at least--Cholo had feared. A Jackson shot off a pass from Gerard produced a corner, and Atleti's Molina miskicked an attempted clearance, the ball fell to Yeremy Pino who arrowed a shot across Oblak into the corner.
Gero Rulli channeled his inner Iker Casillas to claw a Carrasco header back--just--and then the luckless Molina was sent off in injury time for a fist to the neck of Alex Baena, who had incurred his wrath by wasting time giving the ball back. Gerard Moreno scored on the last kick of the match from another counter. Cue the Atleti 'faithful' in the Fondo Sur screaming and throwing insults and water bottles in his direction, and apparently after the match a small group of 'fans' insulted Griezmann and Mario Hermoso as they were running on the pitch after the match.
Anyway,Unai Emery's first win over Diego Simeone, ever. Enjoy our discussion!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices