Julián Álvarez sparks controversy after Atlético and Villarreal match: what happened?
Deafening whistles and a shocking scene
Atletico Madrid's Argentine striker Julian Alvarez drew all eyes after his side's 2-2 draw with Villarreal on Sunday evening at the Wanda Metropolitano, in the second round of matches in the Spanish league.
Alvarez began the match on the bench. Diego Simeone, his fellow Argentine and Atletico boss, brought him on in the 67th minute in place of Marc Pubill.
He failed to make the expected impact in his minutes on the pitch. When referee Hernandez blew the final whistle, Atletico's players headed towards their fans to celebrate and salute them.
Alvarez chose a different path. He walked alone towards the tunnel while his team-mates celebrated with the fans. One supporter hurled a shirt at the Argentine from the stands, but Alvarez kept his composure and carried on to the dressing room.
Loud boos rained down on him from Atletico's fans, the same boos he had faced before coming on, when his name flashed up on the Wanda Metropolitano screens and rang out over the loudspeakers.
These scenes lay bare the scale of the crisis Alvarez is living through at Atletico, with the striker desperate to leave the club before the summer transfer window shuts.
His situation is a tangled one. Atletico insist on keeping him, while the Argentine badly wants out and a move to Barcelona.
During the broadcast of the match on the "Carrusel Deportivo" channel, journalist Miguel Martin Talavera spoke about Alvarez's situation at Atletico, insisting the problem, in his view, is not the player's desire to leave but the way he has handled it from the start.
Talavera reckons Alvarez "made every possible mistake", recalling that Atletico "bet on him when he was a reserve player at Manchester City, offered him a lucrative contract, and gave him every possible opportunity, on the pitch and off it".
"The way things are done is fundamental," the Spanish journalist stressed, arguing that Alvarez "was wrong in his approach, and through this approach he found himself in the current situation".
Expect Atletico to do everything in their power to hold on to their Argentine striker. It is a stance the club have made clear since the crisis began.
Talavera warned that any further signs of discontent from Alvarez could deepen the problem. "If Julian is going to wear that sullen face he usually shows, which makes the dressing room and his team-mates uncomfortable, and they are already unhappy with the situation, simply because he fears everything could turn against them in a bad match or a bad result at the Wanda Metropolitano, then that will be a problem," he said.
How Alvarez handles the crisis, Talavera concluded, will be decisive in shaping the weeks ahead, with Atletico clinging to his services and the player craving a fresh start away from the club.
