Sitting on the bench for more than three years, the world knows the world in a world war!

He was never an absolute mainstay of the team, but he was able to stand up at key moments. In the early morning of March 16, Beijing time, he used his header to silence the stadium that was still cheering for C Ronaldo's hat-trick three days ago. He is Lodi, who joined Atletico for 3 years and never really became Simeone's candidacy, but with diligent efforts, he found his place in the Sheets Army.

Why did he become Simone's love general?

In the summer of 2019, Atletico Madrid experienced the largest blood change since Simeone took charge, Griezmann, Lucas Hernandez, Rodri, Godin and Felipe and other meritorious players left one after another, in order to make up for the loss of the squad caused by the flow of personnel, the club carried out a series of reinforcement operations to fill the vacancies, such as Felix is to fill the gap Griezmann, Llorente is to fill rodri, Hermoso is to fill the gap of Godin, then Renan ... Lodi naturally wanted to fill the void left by Felipe's departure. However, compared with other small partners who took up new positions at the same time, Lodi has some taste of being raised in the deep boudoir.

Born on 8 April 1998, Lodi had been playing for Atlético Paraná before his transfer to Atletico Madrid, from the youth echelon to the first team, he completed the entire training system of the club step by step, and was not brought to European football until the age of 21, knowing that in recent years, South American geniuses have been pocketed by European clubs even when they were minors.

It is somewhat surprising that from the summer when he came to Europe, Lodi quickly transformed from an unknown migrant worker to "someone else's child", and even without exaggeration, he was the best reinforcement for Atletico Madrid that summer. With almost no run-in period troubles, Lodi successfully took over the mantle of his predecessor Felipe and became simeone's trusted main left-back, able to dock so quickly and seamlessly, thanks to the fact that he experienced a systematic grinding from the academy to the first team in Brazil, but also relied on his very balanced offensive and defensive capabilities.

First of all, Lodi is the most advantageous left-back with the most difficult conditions since Atletico Madrid in the 21st century, although his predecessor Felipe has a good attack and defense, but his thin figure is an unavoidable hard injury, and Lodi does not have to worry about it at all, he not only actively seeks physical confrontation in the game, but also has the ability to continuously advance in the confrontation. In addition, the strong physical fitness also makes Lodi rarely injured, and he also has an enviable physical advantage, and even to the end of the game, you can see the Brazilian guys sprinting back and forth. Such outstanding physical conditions are also an important reason why Simone advocated the introduction of Lodi.

Then, as a Brazilian, he completed the complete youth training process of Samba football at Atlético Paraná, and Lodi's ball skills are very commendable. Excellent ball handling skills ensure that Rodi can successfully pass the opposing player in high-speed dribbling, especially the heel bump to cut inward is his best play, joining Atletico Madrid in the first season of the average of 0.5 successful passes per game is enough to show his sharp side breakthrough ability. For full-backs, no matter how the tactical trend changes, crosses are the basic ability for them to survive, Lodi has a superior level of cross timing, footwork use or landing point selection, he is by no means the kind of player who can finish when he reaches the position, he can always calculate the position of the defensive weakness and accurately deliver the ball there according to the change of the opponent's defensive position and the running position of the attacking player A 21% cross success rate in his debut season in La Liga is already a rarity for full-backs.

In addition to empowering Atletico Madrid on the offensive end, Lodi has also delivered satisfactory answers in his defensive work. Guided by Simeone's wolf football philosophy, coupled with Lodi's excellent defensive speed, the opponent used the Brazilian full-back assist to go up and left the empty wishful thinking behind him, because he could always return to the defense in time to ensure the quality of the team's defense. In addition to the timely defense, with a strong body and good prediction, Lodi is not inferior in steals and interceptions.

Say goodbye to second grade syndrome

After a season in the scenery, Lodi suffered from a second-year syndrome - in the 2020-2021 season, he made 23 appearances in La Liga, including only 11 starts, although he still scored 1 goal and 2 assists, but his position and playing time in the team were different from the previous season, and Simeone even used Hermoso, who was a centre-back, to play left-back and did not let Lodi play the main force.

From the player's point of view, he fell into the adjustment period after the peak of the debut season, the performance on the field has fluctuated, and his characteristics have gradually been understood by the opponent so it needs to be adjusted or strengthened; from the perspective of the team, Simeone has been adjusting the personnel combination and even trying to change the defensive tactics after the large-scale change of personnel in the previous season, and this constant adjustment has also made it difficult for Lodi to adapt, making it difficult to maintain a stable state. But fortunately, Lodi won La Liga with Atletico Madrid last season, which also diluted the embarrassment of being gradually marginalized, but his value has been discounted in half, from 50 million euros to 20 million euros, and even once rumored to be a trade addition to Griezmann.

After the rumors of the summer, Lodi, who finally stayed at Atletico Madrid, still has to compete with non-regular full-back Hermoso for the team's main left-back position this season, at least from the first half of the season, the Brazilian is still in the ascendant. As of the 20th round of La Liga, Lodi has made a total of 29 appearances in the league and the Champions League this season, and can still be regarded as an important rotation player for the team. The biggest change in the season state and performance of the first 2 seasons is not the competitive state but the mentality, how to maintain a peaceful mentality between the ups and downs, which is the key to regaining his feelings.

Text/Supine Braces - Yangyuan Zhang