Youth Ratings
1 – Ready for the first team
2 – Good, potential to be first team
3 – Decent, could make first team squad
4 – Decent potential, unlikely to make it to first team
5 – Unlikely to make first team
José Saldaña
Player profile:
- Nationality: Spanish
- Age: 19
- Date of birth: 09/05/2001
- Current club: Atlético Madrid under 19
- Career: UD Alméria (Y), Atlético Madrid (Y)
- Position: goalkeeper
- Preferred foot: left
José Saldaña was the goalkeeper of Atlético Madrid under 19 in this match and showed some good signs. He made good decisions in possession, often finding the player in space and showing some very good long passes. On a few occasions, he did not play an accurate pass. Saldaña did not have that much to do in goal, but he showed good signs whenever he needed to make a save. Through the air, he was confident and communicated well with his defenders.
Rating: 4
I think that he is a decent goalkeeper already but it is hard to say if he could make it into the first team of Atlético Madrid in the future.
Javier Hyjek
Player profile:
- Nationality: Polish
- Age: 19
- Date of birth: 12/01/2001
- Current club: Atlético Madrid under 19
- Career: Atlético Madrid (Y)
- Position: central midfielder
- Secondary position: right-back
- Preferred foot: right
Javier Hyjek played as a right-back in this match and managed to do a decent job. When he was being put under pressure, he did well to switch play often to play out of pressure. He did well to show awareness when he closed the gap in the center when Moreno was beat in a 1-vs-1 duel which meant that he was out of position and that there was space in that position. He lost some physical duels with Ünüvar as he was not smart enough in these duels, but he did well to win most aerial duels. Hyjek did well to intercept the ball in important areas of the pitch at times.
Rating – 4
Seems to have decent potential but I’m unsure whether he could make it into the first team of Atlético Madrid. Need to rewatch.
Marco Moreno
Player profile:
- Nationality: Spanish
- Age: 19
- Date of birth: 20/02/2001
- Current club: Atlético Madrid under 19
- Career: UD Las Palmas (Y), Atlético Madrid (Y)
- Position: central defender
- Preferred foot: right
Marco Moreno played as the right central defender for Atléti in this match. He sometimes struggled on the ball as he could not find an option to pass to which led to him deciding to kick the ball away. When Ajax were in possession in the final third, both Moreno and Lama were very disciplined to stay in position and not get caught off-guard. When they needed to defend with more space in their back, they were more aggressive and they stepped out of the defensive line more often. In these cases, Moreno sometimes got dribbled past by Sontje Hansen. He got beat in the duels with Hansen at times as well, when Hansen put his body between the ball and Moreno.
Rating – 4
He did well to stay disciplined and has lots of time to improve still. Will rewatch him.
Manu Lama
Player profile:
- Nationality: Spanish
- Age: 19
- Date of birth: 12/02/2001
- Current club: Atlético Madrid under 19
- Career: Atlético Madrid (Y)
- Position: central defender
- Preferred foot: right
Manu Lama played as a left central defender and made a very good impression. First of all, he was at all times aware of what happened on the pitch and often managed to close the gaps when Medrano was dribbled past or out of position. Both Moreno and Lama did well to stay disciplined throughout the match and kept in position when Ajax had possession in the final third. He did very well in the duels and it was very past to get past Lama. The Spaniard showed that he is comfortable on the ball, as well.
Rating – 3
Probably should play in the B-team next season to gain experience at the senior level. I think that he has the potential to play for the first team in the future, but I definitely need to rewatch him.
Fernando Medrano
Player profile:
- Nationality: Spanish
- Age: 20
- Date of birth: 26/03/2000
- Current club: Atlético Madrid B
- Career: Atlético Madrid (Y)
- Position: left-back
- Preferred foot: left
The left-back was the captain of Atlético Madrid in this match and he did well. He switched the play when he was put under pressure and showed that he is comfortable on the ball. He showed determination in the aerial duels by simply being more aggressively trying to win the duel than his opponent. He showed smartness in the duels with Quinten Timber and did well to stay in position when Timber tucked inside. Sometimes, he did not fully control the ball when he was dribbling.
Rating – 3
Need to rewatch him, but I think that he is one of the better players of the team and could turn out to be a future first team player.
Nando Gutiérrez
Player profile:
- Nationality: Venezuelan
- Age: 19
- Date of birth: 02/04/2001
- Current club: Atlético Madrid under 19
- Career: Atlético Madrid (Y)
- Position: right midfielder
- Preferred foot: right
Nando Gutiérrez played as a right midfielder out of possession and as a right winger in possession. He had limited time on the ball in this match because of the dominance of Ajax and the playing style of Atlético Madrid, but he showed some promising signs. He is able to make short, quick turns on the ball, has good ball control and technique, had a good final pass in his locker at times and showed smartness when he prevented Raatsie from kicking it out quickly when he saw one of his attackers in space.
Rating – 4
Showed decent potential but I am not sure whether it is enough to be considered as a future Atlético Madrid player. Need to rewatch.
Nacho Quintana
Player profile:
- Nationality: Spanish
- Age: 19
- Date of birth: 23/02/2001
- Current club: Atlético Madrid under 19
- Career: Atlético Madrid (Y)
- Position: attacking midfielder
- Preferred foot: right
Nacho Quintana played as a right central midfielder in this match and he showed good discipline to stay in position when Ajax tried to attract the Atlético midfielders to put pressure on them by just passing it around in the back provocatively. Quintana chose his moments to put pressure on Ajax well and probably was the leading man in doing this as he was the one that started putting pressure and communicating to others that they needed to follow up every time. Just as the others, he did well to switch play whenever he was put under pressure and he showed some good cross passes. When he was being put under pressure, he occasionally did not know where to pass it to which led to the loss of possession.
Rating – 4
Decent potential, but I don’t think that he will make it into the first team.
Mario Soriano
Player profile:
- Nationality: Spanish
- Age: 18
- Date of birth: 22/04/2002
- Current club: Atlético Madrid under 19
- Career: Atlético Madrid (Y)
- Position: attacking midfielder
- Secondary position: left winger
- Preferred foot: right
Mario Soriano was the youngest player of Atlético Madrid starting in this match, but he definitely showed that he already is one of the better players of Atlético Madrid and that he has some potential. He did very well to often play out of pressure, using his good technique and ball control to get past opponents in the tight spaces. He switched play very well and showed some pinpoint crosspasses. Mario Soriano linked up well with Rodrigo Riquelme on the right side of the pitch and managed to create some space for himself and his teammates by combining with Riquelme in the tight spaces.
Rating – 3
I think that he could make it into the first team of Atlético Madrid, if he keeps on developing well.
Rodrigo Riquelme
Player profile:
- Nationality: Spanish
- Age: 20
- Date of birth: 02/04/2000
- Current club: Atlético Madrid B
- Career: Atlético Madrid (Y)
- Position: right winger
- Secondary position: left winger, second striker
- Preferred foot: right
Rodrigo Riquelme played on the right in the match against Ajax and managed to make a good impression, even though he could have done more. He handled the pressure of Ajax very well and managed to play out of pressure time after time. This often happened in his own half and he liked to link up with Mario Soriano in the tight spaces. He has very good technical ability, made some good runs into the box when he played more centrally and was very smart in the duels. The only thing that lacked was his end product and that he sometimes did not get past Kasanwirjo in the opposition box.
Rating – 3
With his contract expiring this summer, it is very likely that he will move to a different club. Could be a good addition for any Liga NOS or Eredivisie club.
Marc Tenas
Player profile:
- Nationality: Spanish
- Age: 18
- Date of birth: 30/05/2001
- Current club: Atlético Madrid under 19
- Career: UE Cornellà (Y), Atlético Madrid (Y)
- Position: striker
- Preferred foot: right
Marc Tenas played as the sole striker in this match. He nearly managed to score a header after a good cross was sent in, but Devyne Rensch prevented him from scoring in the first half. He lost a lot of duels against Rensch and Kasanwirjo, but it must be said that he was left very isolated at times as Atlético Madrid dropped very deep at times. He did well to put pressure on the backline whenever it was needed.
Rating – 5
It is very unlikely that Tenas will make it into the first team.
Adrián Ferreras
Player profile:
- Nationality: Spanish
- Age: 20
- Date of birth: 10/04/2000
- Current club: Atlético Madrid B
- Career: Real Valladolid (Y), Atlético Madrid (Y)
- Position: central midfielder
- Secondary position: defensive midfielder
- Preferred foot: right
Adrián Ferreras played as the defensive midfielder this match and he showed good defensive positioning at times as he switched sides very smoothly and did not allow the wingers of Ajax often to get into space between the lines. It happened a few times that these players got into space but he managed to close them down very quickly. He did well to close the gap towards Hansen when he was in space in the box. The Spaniard recovered possession well at times when Ajax could have been dangerous on the break, but Ferreras lost some aerial duels against Regeer. Also, he liked to get in front of his opponent aggressively at times but he often was a bit too late.
Rating – 4
Showed decent signs, but I’m not sure if he could make it into the first team ever.