Uría: "Taking off Kang-in Lee killed Atlético's creativity"

Rubén Uría is surprised that anyone would criticise Kang-in Lee. In his view, the South Korean was the only player capable of slowing the game down, switching play and catching Barça's defence off guard. Taking him off was Simeone's big misreading of the game.

Did Atlético de Madrid lack fight in the second half? Did the substitutions hurt Atleti? Rubén Uría believes they did, but in his view the criticism of the Atlético coach comes down to misreading the state of the game. As he sees it, taking Kang-in Lee off killed the team, because the South Korean was the only one reading the play well enough to break Barcelona's high defensive line. After that, Pablo Barrios's departure from the pitch buried Atleti's chances for good, as nobody seemed able to string together a move with any real purpose.

Uría is surprised that some people are saying Kang-in Lee played badly. For him, he was outstanding: "Kang-in bought the time, the patience and the pause to switch the ball and catch Barcelona's defence out, and he did it four or five times like clockwork. If he didn't do it, nobody did," Uría said during the discussion.

Alberto Carballo compares him to what Griezmann used to do, and Nacho Donado sums it up: "receive with your back to goal, don't lose it and switch the play". Donado adds that "Baena also went off when Barrios was replaced, which meant taking out even more football", and corrects a point along the way: "Simeone made four substitutions, not five."

Incidentally, Lookman did not play a single minute last night against FC Barcelona. The Nigerian remained unused.