The Atlético de Madrid disputes this Sunday in De Kuip, in front of the Feyenoord, the fifth and last friendly of the preseason. Reviewing the previous four, we find a somewhat surprising data. Not because of the merits achieved on the pitch, but because when the team started work on July 7, few would have bet on it.
We refer to the fact that Giuliano Simeone be so far the soccer player most used by Cholo in preseason. The forward, only 18 years old, has started in the four games played, in which he has added a total of 299 minutes. A figure higher than that accumulated by two heavyweights who have also formed in the eleven in the four summer appointments, Jan Oblak and Saúl Ñíguez, which add up to 282 and 275 minutes respectively.
Next on the list are Camus (213), Huntsman (203) and the central Fran Gonzalez (195). A lot of youth squad in this ranking, something logical considering that Cholo could barely line up four players from the first team from the start. Kondogbia missed the first two appointments due to coronavirus, the same as Handsome although in his case, the last two due to an intestinal obstruction that forced him to spend two nights hospitalized in Wolfsburg.
Thus, we find that Giuliano has been the player most used by Simeone so far this summer. And his performances have proved him right, even if the goal resists him. He has brushed it in every encounter, but for one reason or another, he has been left with the honey on his lips. He attended before Numantia, they annulled him one in Salzburg, crashed a ball against the crosshead in Wolfsburg and started the play of both Carrasco in Cádiz, where Atlético’s last penalty in the shootout also missed.
But beyond being at odds with the goal, Giuliano creates chances. It is constantly unchecked. Try to join and download to download the game. And he fights each and every one of the balls that pass near him, going to the clash with centrals that take many years and a lot of body out of him. It is what has led to Cholo to bet on his son this summer, although his future is unknown. Everything indicates that he will play in the subsidiary, in the Third RFEF, which would mean that he would train a lot with the first team, but a loan is not ruled out either.
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