As Diego Simeone had predicted, it was Luis Suárez who rescued Atlético just as fate looked to inflict another cruel blow
“We’re entering into The Suárez Zone,” Diego Simeone said. Atlético Madrid’s manager knew but even he couldn’t have known it would be quite like this, another story of the absurd in a season built on them. If this was The Suárez Zone, which it was, it was The Twilight Zone too, the implausible unfolding in front of them. With 147 seconds left on the penultimate Sunday there was another twist, delirium inside the Metropolitano where they had just witnessed the Uruguayan score the goal that changed everything, and outside where they hadn’t, but went wild anyway. How could they not? This was his redemption and their resurrection.
Maybe, just maybe, it was the title too, the second of two goals in the last eight minutes that brought Atlético back to defeat Osasuna 2-1 and leave them top of the league with a single match left, their fate back in their own hands, destiny defied once more. Inside the stadium there was mayhem, men running everywhere, not knowing what to do with themselves. Outside, where fans had gathered in Car Park B again, there was an explosion of joy and relief. Somehow Atlético had escaped. Just as it was all slipping through their fingers within touching distance of the finish line, Suárez had appeared.
