He Atlético de Madrid move forward in the King’s Cup after his victory this Thursday, to the limit, against Cacereño. The local team took the lead in the 30th minute and maintained the advantage until the 83rd minute, the moment of the tie. in extremis of the rojiblancos with a header from Lenglet. Until then the forces of a Cacereño held out, conceding two more goals from De Paul and Julián Álvarez before the final whistle (1-3).
In the Príncipe Felipe Stadium, packed for the occasion, It was difficult for the visiting team to generate danger in the first minutes. Despite the three categories of difference between the two, Cacereño protected himself from the attacks of Alexander Sorloth, author of the first shot on goal in the 22nd minute and well stopped at ground level by goalkeeper Diego Nieves.
Just before reaching the half hour mark, Samu Lino had an important chance in the race after a pass filtered by Ángel Correa behind a Cacereño side, but Nieves covered the gaps in Lino’s not-so-neat shot. Immediately afterwards, the locals took the lead when Fernando ‘Deco’ Pérez mounted a counterattack from the center of the field.
The number 8 of the Extremaduran team quickly turned around and assisted the gap on the right wing for the sprint of Chris Martínez, who raised his head after advancing meters and crossed into the area; Axel Witsel did not manage to clear a header and Álvaro Merencio he hit with an acrobatic volley at mid-height against a Juan Musso poorly placed in goal.
The Colchonero response was, in the 35th minute, a high shot by Lino from the left corner of the rival area. But Atlético got lost in dull battles, like a Sorloth clash with Javi Barrio, and missed another good opportunity on a low right hand from Roro Riquelme at point-blank range, having tamed a loose ball in a stumbling attack by Lino.
After the break, and with three substitutions made by Diego Pablo Simeonethe red and white team created danger with a lateral foul that Julián Álvarez took and that caused a commotion until culminating in a deflected shot by Rodrigo de Paul. Then Sorloth focused on the rival goal, but was unable to shoot in another approach over Nieves’ domain.
In the 55th minute, Correa asked for a penalty on a Barrio clearanceas a sign that the tension was growing. The more Atlético pushed, the more spaces were left behind and Chris Martínez made it around 2-0 shortly after, with a right-footed shot from the edge of the area that did not find the top corner because the ball lightly touched an opponent.
Although ‘Cholo’ Simeone made more changes, not much imagination came from his bench and the stopwatch was running out. The absence of Antoine Griezmann is very difficult to cover and Sorloth was already showing fatigue in the 70th minute, while the ‘Spider’ Álvarez didn’t even bite. There was another blunder like those in 2020 and 2021 against Cultural Leonesa and UE Cornellà.
Javi Galán’s efforts on the left side encouraged an Atleti side with little spark, but who came close to equalizing in the 72nd minute through a shot by De Paul with his right foot and a lot of thread, from outside the area and which Nieves repelled with a little dove Lino forgave the goal again when the 79th minute was running, due to an unsuccessful header from De Paul’s center.
The increasingly worse state of the grass, the lack of light without Griezmann and the bravery of the locals made it difficult for Atleti to come back, which, suddenly from a set piece, made it 1-1 in the 83rd minute. The ‘Spider’ took another foul from the left side on a changed foot, but the Cacereño goalkeeper conceded another chance at his fist clearance.
The omnipresent De Paul controlled the ball and from the right corner of the area crossed to the penalty spot, where Clément Lenglet rose higher than defender Iván Martínez and headed across to score. That goal came between the two yellow cards that Jaime Sancho received, which left Cacereño with one less man for the final stretch of the duel.
On the other hand, ‘Cholo’ was also expelled in ’88’in his case for protesting a new foul taken by Julián Álvarez and which Nieves stopped on the goal line after licking the post. Without VAR available in these early stages of the Cup, the match continued its course towards an inopportune extension in the colchoneros’ calendar.
However, with almost all the fans ticking down the clock in view of that extra time, the ‘Spider’ opened the game towards De Paul outside the area; Atleti’s ‘5’ tamed that pass to immediately hook a right hand that tripped Adri Pérez, which modified the trajectory of the ball and entered Nieves’ goal unopposed.
In the final moments of the match, Julián Álvarez scored 1-3 in a counterattack launched by himself and combining with De Paul, who He returned the pass so that the red and white ’19’ beat the Cacereño goalkeeper with a low and crossed left foot shot.attached to the stump of the post. This is how the pupils of ‘Cholo’ saved a new messy cupbearer.