[ad_1]
Atlético-MG lost their advantage to 100% playing at home in the Brazilian Championship when they tied, yesterday (14), in 1 to 1 with Fluminense, for the 16th match. Although the result was not as expected by the players, coach Jorge Sampaoli and the fans, the first draw of the competition was enough to keep Galo at the top of the national tournament table.
However, if there were few rounds the team had “big” points and a considerable distance from the most direct opponents in the fight for first place, today the reality is different.
By adding only one point in Mineirão before the Flu, the Rooster allowed the approach of those already in the queue. Internacional, which beat Sport 5-3, matched the number of points (31), but has one more game. Flamengo, who is in third place, has 30 points, followed by São Paulo, who closes the G-4, with 26. Rubro-Negro, however, today faces vice-lantern Red Bull Bragantino, in Maracaná.
Jorge Sampaoli said after the game that his team had two different times against the Tricolor of Rio de Janeiro. In the first stage, in the opinion of the Argentine coach, Atlético-MG was passive. However, in the second half the team performed “unbelievably” in understanding the commander.
“We have to know how to deal with the dominance that we generate when we get into the rival field. It happened in the second half, in which I stand out a lot, because for me it was incredible. We have to follow this path,” he said.
Open problems
Even with such a considerable improvement pointed out by Sampaoli, it did not match the performance of the opening stage, which even provided an opening for opponents to show latent problems of the Belo Horizonte team.
With positioning behind the ball line and strong compaction in defense when Galo had possession, Fluminense stopped one of the strongest attacks on the Brasileirão for 45 minutes. Odair Hellmann managed to cancel the main weapons of Atlético-MG, which, as Sampaoli himself recognized, had difficulties to overcome the “Tricolor lightning”.
“First half favorable to a team that came to play the game we thought, which was to counterattack, steal fast and get out fast. We couldn’t connect the attack (…) In the second half, dominance was evident, against a team that he had almost 11 players in his area. It was very difficult to generate chances, but the team looked everywhere. From the right, from the center, from the left, “analyzed coach Alvinegro.
This problem had already been detected against Fortaleza, in the athletic defeat of Arena Castelão, on matchday 14.
And even with the dominance, reflected in the numbers (more than 60% ball possession) against Fluminense, Atlético managed to reach the second goal. Much, also, for the outstanding performance of goalkeeper Muriel, who made at least three crucial saves that prevented the possible victory of the locals.
Accustomed to accumulating submissions, in round 16, Atlético-MG kicked the rival goal only 13 times, eight of which were in Rio’s goal, and only one ball entered.
Reinforcement
Asked at a press conference if the Gallo needed reinforcements for the offensive part, Sampaoli, surprisingly, preferred to value the athletes who are part of his squad.
“You can win, lose, but the intention of the second part makes me happy. The result seems fair, due to the situation of the team and the situation of the rival. it helps, much better ”, he commented.
Galo is close to receiving Argentine midfielder Matías Zaracho, who will come from Racing-ARG. Once the negotiation is confirmed, the transaction will be the most expensive in the club’s history.
Sampaoli is also close to having the returns of Paraguayan defender Junior Alonso, Ecuadorian midfielder Alan Franco and forward Savarino for the game against Bahia, next Monday (19), in Salvador. All three were at the service of their teams in matches valid for the South American Qualifiers for the Qatar World Cup in 2022.
