Griezmann assists on and off the pitch in late Ballon d'Or push: winners and losers from Atlético 2-0 Monaco

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In a routine win, Atlético Madrid beat Monaco 2-0.

Diego Simeone’s men comfortably dispatched Thierry Henry’s young upstarts. Who were the winners and losers?

Winner: Angel Correa

With Diego Costa injured and/or being linked with a move to Chinese Super League side Dalian Yifang, Angel Correa got the start next to Antoine Griezmann and showed why he could be a perfect partner for the Frenchman even if he is stylistically nothing like the target men that the World Cup winner usually plays with.

Tonight against Monaco, Correa was sensational. He bobbed and weaved and moved between the lines, he popped up in areas of danger and nearly always looked like making the right decision. The Argentine excels in tight spaces, which is something Atleti will face more and more of as they become a truly established European powerhouse.

Correa’s positional intelligence and skill was on full display for the second goal, where he made a great run off the ball and then hit Jemerson with a delicious stop-and-go move that left the Brazilian in a bad situation, allowing him to make a simple assist for Griezmann.

Loser: Jemerson

Come on, man. You’re playing between two teenagers who had a combined two first-team appearances before tonight. One of the kids was making their debut, too. And they were facing down the fearsome Atlético Madrid, Champions League veterans who have made two of the last five finals.

The onus on Jemerson to be a stable presence at the heart of the Monaco defence was huge. And so when Correa ran at him with just over 23 minutes on the clock, everyone who is associated with the Principality side was praying he’d exert his authority.

Instead, what happened was that when Correa threw a simple feint at him, Jemerson collapsed to the pitch like a house of cards, ankles “broken” and self-esteem in tatters. It gave Atleti what amounts to an unassailable lead and all but ended the game.

Winner: Rodri

Atleti have lost just two games all season, and new signing Rodri started neither of them. He played no part in the loss to Celta early in the season and was introduced at half-time of the defeat to Dortmund, with the side already behind when he showed up.

All that to say, Rodri is very good and his impact on the Atleti side is definitely notable. Many compare him to Sergio Busquets, but Rodri’s style is more muscular and comparable to his mentor at Villarreal; Bruno Soriano.

It will come as no surprise that both of Atleti’s goals against Monaco involved key forward passes from Rodri. For the first goal he played it sharply wide to Filipe Luis, a pass that sprang Atleti forward on the break. And for the second he split the Monaco lines with a great ball forward to Antoine Griezmann, who was then able to feed Angel Correa who found Griezmann again for the goal.

Loser: Stefan Savic

With Diego Godín and José Giménez both stricken by injury this season, Stefan Savic has emerged as the club’s de factor defensive leader. And whilst he’s been reasonably good all season, he was exposed by Monaco.

First, he picked up a yellow card for elbowing Andrea Raggi in the stomach. How that was only a yellow and not a red remains puzzling, but he got away with it, although not for long. 20 minutes later he handled a shot from Youri Tielemans and conceded a penalty.

He was lucky that Falcao missed it, but two senseless decisions will give Diego Simeone pause for thought, and could put Atleti in a tough spot for matchday six, where they will likely need to get a result to stand a chance of winning the group.

Winner: Thomas Partey

Atleti fans will remember that during their most dominant period, they often deployed a powerful defensive unit of Tiago and Gabri in midfield. Since both men faded, Diego Simeone has played a system where one of the centre mids is usually more offensive in mindset, but that has meant that it’s been hard for Atleti to “do an Atleti” in their biggest games.

Enter Thomas Partey.

The Ghanaian midfielder is an impeccable defensive presence, equal parts physical and technical. A supreme coverman very much in the mould of Gabi. His presence in midfield alongside Rodri gave Atleti a sense of defensive steel against Monaco that could easily be carried forward to bigger and better games.

Loser: Thierry Henry

Thierry Henry is a coach of great ambition. He speaks about modelling himself after Pep Guardiola, and the way he sends his team out you can tell he wants them to play beautiful football first and have results follow from that.

Of course, he’s probably chosen the worst possible team to take over in that case. Or rather, the worst possible time to take over a perfect club for him.

Monaco’s ethos and scouting fit in with Henry’s style, and the way he fearlessly throws youngsters into such enormous games shows that he could be a truly great coach in time; but it probably won’t be at Monaco this season, because this team is an organisational mess.

Winner: Antoine Griezmann

Antoine Griezmann is obsessed with the Ballon d’Or. It’s kinda sad really but to be fair he has won everything save for La Liga and the Champions League so maybe it makes sense? Either way, his current PR offensive has been pretty terrible, well, until tonight.

With all the other players standing, broad-chested, staring off into the middle distance as the Champions League anthem played; Griezmann was on his knees tying his mascot’s shoelaces.

Oh, and of course you have to be good at football to win the Ballon d’Or too so it’s pretty useful that Griezmann played really well, setting up the opening goal and scoring the second.

The post Atletico Madrid 2-0 Monaco: the winners and losers as Griezmann launches final Ballon d’Or offensive appeared first on Squawka News.



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