He has come a long way. Even from afar. On Saturday, Atlético de Madrid avoided a major disappointment in the round of 32 of the Copa del Rey, winning 3-1 against Lugo. But Cholo Simeone’s troops were in difficulty, until Memphis Depay’s double in the second period. A rather unexpected return to the spotlight for someone who had fallen into a certain oblivion, after an interesting start to the season.
He had actually made a fairly promising start to La Liga, with two goals in the first three days in particular. But the good form of the Morata-Griezmann duo and their eternal physical problems prevented them from continuing. He thus missed the entire month of October and a large part of November, and since his return, he has had to make do with the crumbs. Against Lugo on Saturday, he started for the first time since August, and he scored points, with a nice double. A first goal where we were able to see his dribbling skills, mystifying a defender before finishing, then, a second goal where we were able to see his finishing skills, beautifully dispatching a cross from Llorente to the back of the cages.
A nice “reinforcement” for Simeone
However, it should be noted that in the first period, he did not necessarily show his best side. But everything is forgotten with this double, obviously. “Of course, attackers live from the goals they score”, explained Diego Simeone after the match, happy for his scorer. It must be said that the Argentinian is getting back quite a piece with Depay, while the second part of the season promises to be very tough from a calendar point of view. “The lion is back”we can read in Marcawhere it is also explained “that it must be important for the second part of the season”.
It must be said that Atlético no longer has any options in La Liga, but is still in the running in the Champions League, in the Copa del Rey and there is this Spanish Super Cup which is also arriving very quickly. Diego Simeone will need people available up front, and Depay could therefore well be, with Angel Correa, a quality offensive joker. We can only hope that injuries do not plague the Dutchman, as has been too often the case in recent years…
