Atlético de Madrid: Simeone gives Kondogbia all the gallons

FOut of the spotlight, far from the last meters in which the matches are decided and without the name that some of his teammates have, lives Geoffrey Kondogbia. The Central African is not as acclaimed as Joao Flix, Griezmann or Carrasco, but in the final stretch of the season he has become the most important player for a Cholo Simeone who, today, his lineups are made up of Oblak, the midfielder and nine ms.

And it is that the Argentine coach has clearly found the footballer who holds him to the team. He is aware that with the former Valencia player he can align a single pivot in front of the defensive line and give freedom to the four attacking players to draw a 4-1-4-1 scheme in defensive tasks. This allows Koke to have more freedom and be able to put pressure on the opponent’s ball a few meters further on. In addition, the Vallecano gets to move behind the point and sometimes even unchecks the space when the point falls to a band.

But focused on Kondogbia, we must highlight the high level that he is showing in the final stretch of the season. The midfielder has become a fixture since in the first leg against Manchester United at the Metropolitano he was one of the most prominent and annulled a player of the stature of Pogba. In fact, after being injured, Simeone was waiting for him until the last moment for the second leg but in the end he couldn’t start and only played the last ten minutes.

And on nights like the Martnez Valero it is confirmed that Kondogbia is key. Up to eleven recoveries were achieved by a footballer who steals many balls and makes very few fouls, in fact he only committed one against Elche.

And looking a little further back, against Real Madrid he was also in charge of preventing the Madrid midfielder from generating play. And he did it successfully. If he did not play against Granada due to suspension, he did not fail against Alavs, Mallorca, Espanyol Athletic, Madrid and Elche. Just like in the tie against City.

Kondogbia rejected his national team this season to avoid long trips and focus on Atlético and everything seems to have worked out. In his second season as a mattress maker, he is very close to doubling the minutes he had in his debut campaign. There is no doubt that many colleagues are grateful that Kondogbia is in the field.