Julián Alvarez was the standout figure for Atlético de Madrid during their visit to the magical mountain of Montjuïc, and magical indeed was the performance of the Argentine player. In the very first minute, he put the "colchoneros" ahead after a great header from Lenglet and broke free to toe-poke the ball past the Polish goalkeeper Wojchiech Szczęsny. It was a prelude to what was to come, a great soccer match led by the man from Calchín for Simeone's team.
Then, in a great recovery, he faced De Jong and as soon as he saw the gap, he assisted Antoine Griezmann, who in six minutes, sent the "colchonero" area into a frenzy. Unbelievably, Atlético was 0-2 up in six minutes, but Barça reacted and between the 21st and 22nd minutes, they struck back with goals from Pedri and Cubarsí. The "culés" turned the 1-2 around just before halftime, and the "spider" seemed knocked out, though nothing could be further from the truth.
Julián ran, tackled, and recovered, completing the 90 minutes in a stellar performance, one of the most memorable since he joined the club. The Argentine spoke after the match to the media on the field and couldn't hide his happiness. "It was crazy, we knew it wasn't going to be an easy match, against one of the best teams in Europe," he explained.
Confidence for the Return
"They've been showing it, they have great players, we did a great job, there are still 90 minutes left. Everything is very even, it's true that we were winning 2-0, with two early goals, then they managed to score several goals from set pieces. When we were 4-2, it was about holding on, trying to score to narrow the difference for the return match, we managed to do it in the end, we had some chances, there are 90 minutes left," he concluded.
"Now we're going to rest and think about the next match, we knew we had to hold on, beyond the goals, trying to always stay in the game. Sometimes they hit you and it gets to you a bit, always keeping your head up, thinking we can do it, we always work this way. The team shows it, not just the eleven starters but those who come off the bench, they always give us great help, today it was also demonstrated, we need to keep going this way," he concluded.
Barça Is One of the Best in the World
"I said it before, they are one of the best teams in the world, in LaLiga they've been showing it, we try to do our thing.
Trying to win as we did in LaLiga and now it's about competing at home and there are 90 minutes," he concluded.