After the 1-1 draw in Madrid derbyAtlético de Madrid should have absolutely no chance of winning LaLiga. Equally, however, there should be no chance of his eccentric Dutch striker Memphis Depay fitting in or becoming important to him. The Red and Whitesbut he has done it.
Therein lies your hope. Unexpected things happen.
Thanks to the maverick Dutchman, Diego Simeone's side are now precisely the same distance behind Real Madrid as they were at this stage last season. Over the remaining 15 games of 2022-23, Atléti moved to within one point of their city foes, having been, as now, 10 behind with 23 games played.
It would take a pretty notable turn of circumstances for them to not only emulate but improve upon those stats (and I mean no disrespect to either Girona or Barcelona by not mentioning them in this equation), but if magic is to happen, then Memphis is her man.
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The simple, perhaps simplistic, way to look at this is that Atléti have only been able to use their mercurial, frustrating but exciting striker for a brutally low 643 minutes in all competitions this season. His added-time assist for Marcos Llorente's equalizer on Sunday meant he has contributed a goal every 71 minutes on the pitch for Simone's team. Quite extraordinary.
At this point, LaLiga, despite the fact that Madrid other team should really compete to win it, it should be considered their second or third priority. It's sad but true.
On Wednesday they face a discouraging, but equally winnable, Copa del Rey semi-final against Athletic Club. (3:30 p.m. ET, live stream on ESPN+). Hot on the heels of that appetizing test come a couple of huge tests against Serie A leaders Inter Milan in the Champions League.
This being the club that until recently was known as “The Pupae” (the club that tended to be injured), there is a perfectly valid argument that The Red and Whites We will still lose to both rivals, but I don't think they will. My logic, much like when I argued at the beginning of the season that they could, or probably should, win the title, is largely based on Memphis.
This idiosyncratic, visionary and inventive tiger bundle of energy and aggression is not Atlético's most important player, but he has become the guy who makes the difference. He's the guy who owns the right thing.
So while I stand by my argument that he really shouldn't be the right man to succeed at this club, when has logic ever dominated football? By which I mean that Memphis is led by a coach like Simeone who is risk-averse, agitated, restless and almost exclusively interested in players who do exactly (and I mean exactly) what he tells them. This hardly describes the 30-year-old Dutchman.
However, Memphis has become the pineapple on your pizza. Who first came up with the idea of putting tangy, tangy fruit on top of this staple Italian dish? It seems ridiculous. At this point, however, there are people who wouldn't even think of eating pizza without a pineapple topping and, equally, the same number of people who are currently pretending to make vomiting gestures in their hands.
In the UK, we call this type of footballer a “Marmite player”, named after the yeast that some hate and others love. That particular description doesn't travel around the world, but the pineapple idea does.
I mean that, at this moment, Memphis has become the perfect complement for a team that has numerous pieces that work above what is adequate, two or three outstanding elements, a genius (Antoine Griezmann), but that definitely lacks anarchy , killer instinct and sufficient amounts of audacity.
At the Bernabeu, Atlético certainly showed the characteristic that has been their number one personality trait since Simeone took over 12 years ago. Although Madrid played better football, stimulated the roars of their adoring crowd and came close to pushing Atléti to the limit, the fact is that all the men in red and white fought with stubborn stubbornness to cling to some prospect of winning .
Although Atlético cannot claim to have been the most attractive or dominant team, they created plenty of scoring chances, Andriy Lunin played extremely well to keep them at bay and, if they had been ruthless, they certainly could have left the lion's den behind with a overwhelming victory. Their eventual equalizer was largely due to the fact that Memphis are clever in choosing the spaces they occupy, the fact that Stefan Savic spotted them very well with a long ball and the fact that the mischievous and inventive striker headed in the ball in the area. air knowing that Madrid lacked height and experience in central defense.
He was visionary, intelligent, not from the origin of ordinary working-class footballers. Llorente reacted, Nacho and Dani Carvajal did not, and Atléti had their point.
However, it's not simply because Memphis showed up on the big occasion that I'm giving it importance. He is an extraordinary man who embodies one of the things we all love about elite sport: the competitor who uses adversity to achieve adoration.
When he was a child, he really had the most desperate experiences. Life almost broke him.
He is far from alone in the fact that his father abandoned the family home, but the sad truth is that this heartbreaking child was exposed to brutal racism, emotional abuse, and bullying in the new home he was forced to live in. (with 15 step-siblings) when her mother moved in with what turned out to be a deeply flawed man in an attempt to rebuild her life and find love. He himself tells these stories in his autobiography.
Without insisting too much on these circumstances, given that they happened almost 20 years ago, the truth is that Memphis became rebellious, his mother temporarily ended up in a psychiatric hospital and he needed re-education by a life coach imposed on him by PSV Eindhoven. . To this day he remains, as he puts it, “damaged.”
Perhaps his inherent DNA was already going to make Memphis a visionary and extraordinarily creative footballer. Maybe. But the man who holds the key to Atléti adding volcanic and dangerous inventions to their relatively one-dimensional football for the rest of this season, during which they could still win the legendary treble, is now also a survivor, a fighter, and as refers to himself, a lion.
I suppose this is one of the things that has made the deeply unlikely marriage between Simeone and Memphis truly beneficial and potentially exceptional.
What was most likely when they got together was antipathy, bad behavior and a short, unpleasant and brutal relationship. But those are not the reasons why Atléti have been missing their talisman this season.
He and the almost equally important Reinildo Mandava have missed much of this season due to injuries. Now that Memphis is back, he has contributed late goals to vital victories, he has added an alternative to the already fruitful partnership between Griezmann and Álvaro Morata, but he has also brought ingenuity, entertainment and an air of arrogant unpredictability, which can be clearly seen . Seeing it scares rivals who are already ragged and tired when this guy appears in the latter part of matches.
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A brilliant header from Marcos Llorente gives Atleti the tie against Real Madrid
Former Real Madrid striker Marcos Llorente gives Atlético de Madrid a point with this header in injury time.
I'm not saying that Memphis can destroy Athletic or Inter on its own, far from it. But if, for example, Atléti really wants to reduce the gap with Madrid in the race for the title, they need to improve their performance in the last 15 games of last season, which would mean that this time they would win 12, draw two and lose . just once. They will need their magician.
Incidentally, it would also mean that Carlo Ancelotti's team would lose at least the same number of games as last season at this stage: five. It doesn't seem likely.
Regardless of whether that happens, Memphis remains the special element that can rescue Atlético on its boring days and make it completely irrepressible on its special days. That statistic about him producing a goal or assist every 71 minutes already stands out, but if he can start producing the same level of killer efficiency between now and the end of the season, then there's no reason for it. The Red and Whites They cannot make up for what has been a poor LaLiga campaign by winning one or more of the other two trophies they still have at their disposal.
Finally, and I think this is too often forgotten, Memphis simply makes Atletico play football worth watching. Part of my job is to let you know where you are likely to find fun, satisfaction, surprise and enjoyment. I hope I have stated my case clearly.
Whether I end the season showering Atléti with trophies, medals and glory, please, I beg you, take some time to enjoy Memphis. He is magical.
