Johnny Cardoso

Listen, this is what we're gonna be talking about.

Malik Tillman, Johnny Cardoso hit the back of the nets under the bright lights of European continental competition, but a dubious handball decision deprived the Atleti man of an absolute banger.

Still miss-- uh, pissed off about that.

Christian Pulisic, not in the team midweek, but his replacement, we could argue his replacement, Alfajo Cisse, had a hat trick.

Oh, that'll happen.

I just gotta get healthy first, okay? So all right, let's get into notable midweek performances.

As I mentioned, Johnny Cardoso, he had recorded a match-high six recoveries in Atleti's 2-0 win versus Manchester United.

We were a bit surprised.

Of course, let's hope our captain comes back sooner rather than later, but there are things, of course, that are much more important than football.

In addition, Cholo Simeone confirmed in the press conference today that Johnny Cardoso would not be traveling with the team to Barcelona.

You can read all the quotes on intothecalderon.com courtesy of my friend and colleague Sam Leverage, collected and translated these.

Quote, "Tomorrow we won't have Johnny Cardoso and we won't have Koke, so that's why we have squad depth.

One whose true importance will become clear by the end of the season.

We're still in the process of building the team, as I keep saying, and all these situations help us try to manage playing time as best as possible, always with winning the match as our top priority." I really loved this quote from Simeone as well.

Omar El Helali is a good fullback.

Tyrese Dolan, very quick winger.

Uh, the, the midfield, guys, it's, it's best midfield we've had in years.

And it's not just Barrios, it's Johnny Cardoso playing this well too.

Uh, Cardoso has started four games in a row, and I don't know about you guys, but I, I'm seeing a genuine improvement in Johnny.

Um, we a- we all, we know how good he is out of possession.

We know the defensive attributes that he has.

Uh, but that, that's playing in favor of the team.

Uh, first of all because it's maintaining the internal competition at a very high point, and second, it's making it very difficult to game plan against Atlético Madrid because you really don't know who they're going to play.

I think you, you recorded a video, I don't know if it was today or yesterday, about Johnny Cardoso being, um, a, a, a, a, a significant X factor and, and he, he feels almost like a new signing because, um, he's contributing so much to the team.

Maybe not finding the back of the net that recurrently, maybe not being in the assist category.

Johnny Cardoso had a hell of a match against Manchester United, was denied what I thought was a legitimate goal, but I have to give him a B.

B.

So, Tillman and Cardoso, the only contributors, and you get a B?

Alex Grimaldo struck the crossbar with a magnificent free kick.

Johnny Cardoso then placed the ball into the net, but the goal was disallowed after VAR detected a handball committed by Marcus Llorente during the buildup.

Manchester United were fortunate to reach halftime only down by one goal.

The warnings continued immediately after the game's restart.

You're like, "Yeah-"

Johnny Cardoso's looking good.

Lommens is gonna get, like, cooked for the next two, three years.

He'll be, like, a proper keeper.