Tuesday night’s Champions League showcased one of those rare, exciting, end to end, 0-0 draws that rarely feature in football these days. Atlético Madrid’s successful clean sheet draw earned el Rojiblancos a vital chance of redemption and revenge from last year’s cruel end at the hands from their bitter local rivals Real Madrid in the Lisbon final.
But could it all have been different if a certain Torres was available? Not prodigy son, Fernando, but the highly gifted Oliver Torres, who instead is currently on loan at FC Porto and will play favourites Bayern Munich in one of the remaining quarter-finals.
Diego Simeone used two substitutions when the game started to favour Atlético, the former-Chelsea striker, and Raul Garcia. Two potential goal scorers who would have written their names in the history books for the Madrid club if they scored. However, the two substitutions depleted Atlético Madrid’s creativity to only Arda Turan, the only player who in a second of brilliance could have created a chance to break the deadlock.
The bench favoured a more defensive approach, perhaps a backup, especially when the real possibility of Mario Mandžukić receiving a red card looked more and more likely as the final minutes counted down. The Atlético bench consisted of Miguel Angel Moya, Tiago, Raúl García, Saúl Ñiguez, Jesús Gámez, Torres and Giménez. One goalkeeper, two defenders, two midfielders (who are not known for their creativity) and one forward. Simeone even had one more substitution available, however, did not use it. For the situation Atlético was in they did not require any of those players to come on.
To be fair, the likes of Diego Godín, João Miranda, Juanfran and Guilherme Siquerira played exceptionally well, with opposition including Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema providing little to no threat to the superb Jan Oblak. Yet towards the end of the first-leg and having home advantage, Atlético could not find a way through a stubborn Madrid defence with that boasted Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Dani Carvajal and Marcelo providing worthy adversaries to Mandžukić, Turan, Antoine Griezmann and Koke.
As bodies tired, and both Griezmann and Koke came off, Atletico really could have used a player such as Oliver. A special kind of player whom would have had a better chance to unlock Madrid’s defence and possibly get that vital goal to give Atlético an advantage to take to the Santiago Bernabéu.
Whilst for his development, the positives of getting first team experience, particularly in the Champions League, are beneficially in the long term for Oliver. However, Saúl, who also is 20-years-old, has had a few games both in La Liga and the continental tournament. With Gabi and Tiago, Simeone’s preferred centrally-midfield pair, well in the 30’s, the door has been opened for the likes of Saúl to come into the team and grab his chance.
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Oliver has featured in all but one Champions League fixture for Porto, a team that keeps on surprising and advancing further in the competition. Alongside that, he has been scoring goals this season for the Dragons, only behind star striker Jackson Martinez, and becoming a huge fan favourite at the Estadio do Dragao.
A player that was once referred to as ‘Miniesta’, Oliver contains vision beyond his years, technical skills and equally equipped with both feet. Three influential and damaging skills a footballer can possess, that in a game such as last night’s could have been the difference in either creating an opportunity for the senior or more experience figures such as Mandžukić, García or Torres in scoring a goal. Particularly when the Real Madrid players seemed to be a little tired compared to Atlético’s.
Too many incidences had Suárez, the muscle in Atlético’s midfield, trying the creative ball to open up one of Griezmann, Mandžukić and Turan, which is simply not his trait. Particularly because the team had control for the last 10 or so minutes, created clear chances and had Real Madrid starting to look vulnerable. A player such as Torres would have been a luxury to bring on from the bench.
Maybe when Porto play Bayern we will see if the ‘Miniesta’ can be influential in the final third among the top players. It would give good indication on whether it was right to loan the young talent or whether it was worth giving him a go at his parent club.
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