Diego Pablo Simeone’s Atlético de Madrid can add this Sunday (16.15, Movistar) against Osasuna to its fourteenth consecutive victory, which would be the best mark in the club’s history. The victory would also grant the symbolic title of winter champion to a team that has become accustomed to playing without Koke. The captain is experiencing in this season what he already sensed in the preseason, when for the first time he realized that he could play less and this was manifested in his surroundings and in Cerro del Espino.
Turning 33 last Wednesday, Koke is in the first chapter of a transition that is never easy to digest for veterans who were always untouchable. “With him we have one thing in favor, that he has known us for many years. He has already experienced this type of situation with a lot of his colleagues and friends (Gabi, Filipe Luis, Juanfran or Godín) who have gone through this situation that he is having to go through,” Simeone explained this Saturday. The trust that the coach has always had in Koke, and still maintains, has to do with his tactical sense. Not long ago, when his absences from the eleven coincided with defeats, these were explained by his non-presence on the field. Above what he could contribute with the ball, the belief prevailed that the team was in excessive disarray without the player with the most appearances in the club’s history (664). Until the appearance of Pablo Barrios, there was not a player in the red and white squad capable of balancing the team with his sacrifice in coverage, his own and those that covered the tactical holes left by others. In this, Koke is related to the legend of Adelardo, whom he unseated as the player who has worn the Atlético shirt the most times.
It has not been easy for Simeone to make the decision. He began to achieve it with the visit to PSG (1-2) and since then Koke has only started three games (Alavés, Mallorca and Cacereño). If he doesn’t start this Sunday, he would be making his fifth consecutive substitute appearance in the League. “What leaves me most calm is his completeness, his desire, his enthusiasm, his interpretation, his awareness of where he is and the captain he is for us and how important he is in the moments when we call him to the cause. It is clear that, like every footballer, regardless of time, when I was growing up I also always wanted to play. It stands to reason. In this case, he is competing there with Pablo [Barrios]but we are going to need it,” Cholo added.
Due to his bonhomie, nothing was expected other than that this transition to Koke’s replacement would be exemplary. Gabi or Godín grimaced more when their time came. This has made the decision much easier for Simeone in terms of coexistence in the booth. Simeone knows this and yesterday he also winked at other veterans with illustrious careers. “I’m talking about the older kids who are playing less, whether it’s Axel [Witsel] or Caesar [Azpilicueta]we are going to need them. You see them training and you say ‘how do I give them an option because the other one is playing very well’. You suffer as a coach not to give them that possibility because of how they train, but I am in a place where you have to choose. We’re going to need them all. Sure,” warned the red-and-white coach. Koke has entered well in most of the games he started from the bench.
No footballer in the Cholo era who has had bad moments with the ball has defended his position more with tactical sense, kilometers and collective effort than Koke. If the team’s balance kept him in the eleven at its lowest moments, it has also relegated him to the bench. And it is curious because Simeone has done it after changing the system and playing with one more midfielder by going from 5-3-2 to 4-4-2. Barrios and De Paul have consolidated themselves in the axis of the midfield. On the right, first Giuliano and now it seems that Marcos Llorente, have taken the position. On the left, the bet is Gallagher or Lino, although on that flank a space could open up for Koke in the eleven if the Englishman or the Brazilian do not finish breaking through. The position is not strange to him. He already occupied it the year of his explosion, which coincided with the league title of the 2013-14 campaign. In the training sessions prior to the game at the Camp Nou, Simeone thought a lot about fielding Koke in Gallagher’s place.
However, it is Barrios that is Koke’s main competitor. The label of the captain’s successor already hangs above Moratalaz’s steering wheel. This does not please the coach, who does not want to overpressure Barrios. “Comparisons are never good, because each footballer is different. Each one has different characteristics, beyond the fact that Koke has already shown everything he has shown in his long career at the club and Pablo [Barrios] He is beginning to show his youth, his fullness, his vitality and all that strength that we need for the boys who come up from the youth team to join the first team. He is doing it,” explained Simeone. From his words it is deduced that Barrios’ energy is one of the reasons that the Vallecano has been relegated. “Hoping that Koke continues to give us, as long as he continues to be with us,” Simeone continued. Koke renewed last season for one year and at the end of the season he will decide what to do.
