Atletico and Manchester City were 0-0 in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, with Atletico eliminated on aggregate. In the final moments of the match, a clash broke out between the two sides, with Atletico Montenegrin defender Savage leading the way, helping his teammates to fight unevenly, and being shown a yellow card by the referee. Immediately after the match, Savage updated his personal social media and said: "I am proud to wear this shirt!!! We will continue to work hard! "You know, during the conflict he tugged at Foden and pulled Glalish's hair. After this game, I am afraid that Savage will become a true villain in the eyes of Manchester City fans. Savage also played for Manchester City for a while, and the Eastern European tough guy has no feelings for his old club?
No balls to kick
Savic started his career at FK BSK Borca in Serbia, where he was officially promoted to the first team in 2009–2010; one season later, Savic moved to FK Partizan Belgrade; and another season later he was brought to the Etihad Stadium by Manchester City for a €12 million transfer fee. After completing the triple jump from a second-rate league regular team to a second-rate league giant to a top-flight club in 3 years, Savage's career start was enviable. But it is worth noting that at that time, Manchester City was in the stage of searching for potential seedlings everywhere in European football and even in world football, so his jump into the giants is not to say that the talent is extremely high, but only one of the goals of the Blue Moon casting a wide net, it can be said that at that time, entering Manchester City was not to enter the safe, but to face considerable competitive pressure and career challenges, a careless may have a very adverse impact on the career.
Sure enough, although lying won a Premier League trophy, Savage, who had almost no chance of performance, joined Serie A Fiorentina on a free transfer after only one season with Manchester City. Some people may think that leaving Manchester City is a pity for Savage, but objectively speaking, leaving the bitter sea of giants and showing his own value in clubs that suit him is the right way for his career development.
Savage, who is 1.87 meters tall, idolizes the legendary Italian defender Nesta, and his frontal defensive ability is quite good, and with the help of excellent prediction, he is very well protected by the depth of space behind him, and the opponent's attempt to use the top long pass behind him is difficult to achieve. In addition, Savage also has a very strong mental attribute, which is very valuable for the center-back. Against opposing attacking players, it is more often a narrow road of one-half of the balls to meet the braver to win, when the more determined and more scrappy side can often ignore the technical and tactical disadvantages, and Savage can often laugh until the end to protect the goal behind him. But his shortcomings are also obvious, that is, his running ability is not strong, especially his physical fitness is limited, so there are often inattention in the final stages of the game, and his not very good physical ability also causes him to be unable to maintain a stable state for a long time, which is also a hard injury that makes it difficult for him to gain a foothold in the top giants.
However, for the mid-range and upper-middle teams of the non-giants, Savage is definitely the core of the reliable and reliable line of defenders, and Fiorentina believes and operates in this way. In his three seasons with the Purple Lily (2012-2015), Savage was an indispensable link in the team's defensive line, making 26 appearances in Serie A in 2012-2013, 31 appearances in Serie A in 2013-2014, and 29 appearances in Serie A in 2014-2015. In addition to tightening the fence in the defensive line, Savic also appeared on the offensive end, and in his three seasons of Serie A career, he left 4 goals and 3 assists for Fiorentina, showing a certain attribute with a knife.
Because of the stable and efficient play of the Purple Lily, Savage once again entered the vision of the giants. Although it is still a transfer fee of 12 million euros, compared with 4 years ago, the Montenegro international's transfer this time is very targeted, because "gangster" Simeone's Atletico Madrid is a civilian giant who is very suitable for Savage to play.
In the past 7 years, under simeone's tempering, Savage has grown into a reassuring predator on the bed linen legion defense. At the age of 31, he ushered in the golden age of central defenders, that is, the combination of physical condition and experience accumulation reached the theoretical best period of his career. Helping the Flyers win the league trophy last year was the best gift for him to enter the year and the best reward for him not regretting joining Atletico.
Top defender
Although Savage's strengths and weaknesses are very obvious, his strong mental attributes and high defensive ability are very much in line with Simeone's appetite, and the Sheets Army at that time was also experiencing a metabolism in the center-back position.
In his debut season at Atletico Madrid, Savage needed to learn from his big brother Godin, so it's no surprise that he made just 10 appearances in La Liga in 2015-2016. In the 2016-2017 season, Savage ushered in the highlight of atletico Madrid, with 32 appearances in La Liga, 1 goal and 1 assist, and 10 and 7 appearances in the Champions League and Copa del Rey. However, it is regrettable that with the end of the highlight season, Savage's general physical function is gradually exposed, mainly because his physical fitness is not suitable for long-term frequent conquests, from the second half of the 2017-2018 season to the 2019-2020 season, Savage experienced two and a half seasons like a nightmare, with muscle strains as the main injuries one after another, quite pressing the gourd to float the scoop.
Fortunately, despite the repeated injuries, Savage has always been deeply trusted by Simeone, and in these seasons, as long as he is healthy, he will basically occupy a starting center-back position. Maybe it's not a big deal, Savage last season completely dispelled the haze of injury, and this excellent state has continued into this season. Playing the central role of the defensive line in the La Liga champions has been significant for Savage's career. Although he won the Premier League title when he played for Manchester City, Savage, who played soy sauce at that time, had no sense of existence, purely lying to win, and at Atletico Madrid, Savage was the first time to lift the most meaningful championship trophy of his career so far as a protagonist.
During his 6 years at Atletico Madrid, Savage's growth is visible to the naked eye, which shows how important the mutual adaptation between the players and the team is, for Bole Simeone, Savage is highly respected, "Simeone is special, I have never seen a coach who has been in a club for so long and can still lead the team with the same expectations, or even higher expectations than when he arrived on the first day. He showed us incredible energy, and that energy was also passed on to the players. Every game we played, he played like he was on the pitch himself, he showed an impressive passion and hopefully we can continue to have the passion and energy that he delivered. In addition, Savage also believes that the team's fighting power comes from the family unity under Simeone's rule, "The team has a very cordial atmosphere, just like Atletico Madrid has always had, since I came to the team, the atmosphere in the team has been like this." When I join the team, someone will be responsible for telling me what Atletico Madrid means. The team is a big family, it is a club, but before that all of us were brothers first and foremost, and only in this way can we achieve great results. ”
Against his old club Manchester City, Savage contributed top defensive performances and did not receive a yellow card for any competitive factor in the two-legged game, almost locking Up City's formidable attacking line, enough to fame his level. Knowing Savage's experience in that season at Manchester City, it may not be difficult to understand why he was "angry" and "grumpy" when facing Manchester City, when the underappreciated young boy grew into a man who stood tall in the sky, all he wanted was recognition.
Text/Supine Braces - Yangyuan Zhang