Stefan Savić - Diego Simeone's man of steel

At the beginning of the year, Stefan Savić recovered from an unpleasant muscle injury, which kept him off the field for three months.

He came back in Saudi Arabia, during the Spanish Super Cup, in matches with Real and Barcelona, ​​since then - he doesn't stop playing.

In the last six league matches, he was in the starting line-up, and last week in the duel with Liverpool, he played one of the best games since he came to the Madrid club, probably in his entire career.

In the text of "Marke", the most influential sports newspaper in Spain, and in Europe, under the title "Savić on the jump", the performance of the Montenegrin representative after his return to the first team is analyzed.

"He didn't start well, like the whole team, in the duel with Eibar (0:2), but as time goes on he is getting better and more confident. His season culminated against Liverpool (1:0), when he left Firmino, one of the most dangerous and cunning attackers in Europe, without an option," the text states.

"For 90 minutes, Firmino did not have a single shot on the goal of Savić's friend Oblak," the text states.

Savić is already in his fifth season at Atlético and has always been Diego Simeone's trusted man, in the defense in which Diego Godin was the central figure.

In the "fight" for a place in the first team, Savić had equal treatment with the Uruguayan Jose Maria Jimenez.

After the departure of Godin, it was expected that Jimenez would take his place as the leader of the defense, but the 29-year-old man from Mojkov, after recovering from an injury, showed that he is, without a doubt, the best defensive player of Atlético.

"He is Simeone's man of steel," says "Marka".

"Savić is reliable in marking players, strong in the air, his positioning and reading of the game is at a high level - simply, his presence on the field gives calmness and security to his teammates," the newspaper said.

Savić, as one of the oldest and longest-serving players in the team, also gained a reputation as a "protector" - remember how he defended Joao Felix from Barcelona players in a match in Saudi Arabia.

"It is possible that there were doubts about his qualities, but now there are only praises for Savić from all sides," the text of "Marke" states.

630 consecutive minutes, which is the maximum number in the previous seven games, was played by Stefan Savić for Atletico in La Liga and the Champions League in 2020. He was indispensable in the championship matches against Leganes, Real, Granada, Valencia and Villarreal, as well as against Liverpool in the first leg of the round of XNUMX of the Champions League

Atlético's problem this season, as in all previous ones, is not the defense, which conceded only 18 goals in 25 matches in the championship, but the attack, which scored only 28 goals, but, "Marka" points out, the team is better balanced with Savić's return.

"His partnership with Felipe is very important. The two of them seem solid, and they have the ability to come up with the right solution after winning the ball and speed up the game. This is what, it seems, Simeone is asking from them", concludes "Marka".

In the next two weeks, Atlético has important matches before the end of the season - with Espanyol away, then Sevilla, a direct rival for third place, at home, and then a duel at Anfield, against Liverpool in the second leg of the round of XNUMX of the Champions League.