The awakening of Antoine Griezmann! The French international delivered Atlético Madrid on his first ball Monday at the end of the 3rd day of La Liga in Valencia (1-0), allowing the people of Madrid to climb to 6th place behind Athletic Bilbao, wide winner in Cadiz (4-0) in the evening. Came into play in the 64th in place of Geoffrey Kondogbia, “Grizou” inherited a good ball stolen by Thomas Lemar (came into play at the same time in place of Rodrigo de Paul), and saw his shot diverted by Valencian captain Carlos Soler before entering the goal (66th). This is his second goal in three league games, after his initial achievement at Getafe (3-0).
An ideal start to the season less than three months from the start of the World Cup in Qatar (November 20 – December 18), where the 31-year-old “Little Prince” will still be responsible for directing the game of the Blues… but who must for the moment be satisfied with the end of matches on the bench of Diego Simeone. “In my way of thinking, the quality of the minutes matters more than the quantity”, swept the “Cholo” Simeone on Sunday, when he was asked about the playing time of the French.
Cavani in the stands
Gennaro Gattuso’s men can blame themselves: Valencia thought they opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, on a powerful long-distance shot from young American international Yunus Musah from 30 meters … But after watching video, the referee decided to reverse their decision and cancel the goal for a prior foul by Mouctar Diakhaby on Joao Felix at the start of the action. Ditto in the 40th: the referee decided to sanction the Portuguese side Thierry Correia for a fault in the position of last defender on Alvaro Morata, but reconsidered his decision after video viewing, to inflict a simple yellow card on him.
Under the eyes of Edinson Cavani, who signed at Valence CF until 2024 on Monday and present in the stands, Valence went on a second consecutive setback and stalled in 14th place in the championship. Earlier in the evening, Athletic Bilbao, which has just recorded the return to the club of ex-Parisian Ander Herrera (absent from the match sheet), overwhelmed Cadiz 4-0 in Andalusia. Gorka Guruzeta, recruited this summer, scored twice (56th, 90th +3), Inaki Williams scored a goal (24th) and delivered an assist for Alex Berenguer (78th), but also missed a penalty (35th), stopped by Jeremias Ledesma.