40 days after completing his move to Atletico Madrid and one day shy of a month since his last appearance, Obed Vargas made his first start for his new club as he put on the kind of performance that earned his move in the first place during his 73 minutes on the field.
Sandwiched between the two legs of Atleti’s Round of 16 UEFA Champions League tie with Tottenham Hotspur, a home match against one of La Liga’s most grueling opponents provided manager Diego Simeone an opportunity to rotate his squad and rest some first-choice players. Getafe currently sit third in La Liga for most fouls committed per match minutes with 14.9, have received the second most yellow cards with 71, and sit tied for the fourth most red cards received in the league with 6. They’ve used that physical play to limit opponents to a league-best 30.2 xG conceded (about 1.1 xG conceded per match), and an actual goals allowed of 30 which only the trio of Real Madrid (24), Atleti (25), and Barcelona (26) have outdone. That’s all to illustrate that while this match may have been a chance to rotate the squad, it was still certain to be a very high-level test on multiple levels.
That’s the situation that Vargas stepped into as he lined up next to club legend Koke in his first start for his boyhood club. He did not disappoint. His first half was especially impressive, completing 29 of 30 passes attempted, drawing a foul, winning 2/2 tackles and 4/4 ground duels. He finished the game completing 34/38 passes, 2/2 dribbles, had 2 passes into the final third and was credited with 1 chance created. He also had 3 tackles, 3 recoveries and ended up with 6/7 ground duels won. The only real negative in his performance was a pretty ugly tackle in the 68th minute that earned him a yellow card and could have gotten him more than that.
Vargas did well to help cover the middle of the park, as well as getting up the field and posing a threat from the right wing. The chance he created was a great example, as he fought well to keep hold of the ball in the final third before playing a teammate into the box as he fell to the ground. He was a key part of Atleti claiming an important home win that put them two points ahead of Villareal in third in the league with the second leg against Tottenham coming up on Wednesday and a very tough road ahead in the coming weeks.
Following the match against Tottenham, into which they carry a 5-2 aggregate lead, Vargas and company play Real Madrid away and Barcelona at home, followed by a road game against Sevilla and the Copa del Rey final against Real Sociedad all between now and April 18. If they get the job done against Tottenham they’ll also be rewarded with a pair of games against the winner of Barcelona and Newcastle United that they’ll have to fit in there as well.
This performance would have positioned Vargas well for more opportunities to show what he can do for Atleti, regardless of the circumstances. Add in the potentially very crowded schedule and another injury to star midfielder Pablo Barrios that will keep him off the field for an as yet unknown amount of time, and Vargas could be seeing a whole lot more of the field after being stuck on the bench for 8 consecutive games.
