That night, Aletico Madrid underwent the Europa League 2011/12 final. Their opponent at Arena Nationala, Bucharest, is Athletic Bilbao. Just seven minutes of action running, Radamel Falcao has brought Atletico ahead.
The Colombian striker scored his second goal in the 34th minute. Diego Ribas da Cunha's goal in the 85th minute brought Bilbao further behind.
Winning three goals with five minutes left to make Diego Simeone free. Atletico's head coach pulled Adrian Lopez in the 88th minute, replacing him with Eduardo Salvio. Entering the injury time, Diego Ribas's turn is withdrawn. His successor is a young midfielder named Koke.
Koke does not help much. The duration of his performance just a minute. The reason Simeone played Koke was not even a tactical consideration. Just to gain time.
After the final of 2011/12 Simeone more trusted. The game is growing rapidly. The 2013/14 season, Koke played a big part in the success of Atletico won La Liga and breezed into the Champions League final.
Atletico beat Barcelona in the quarterfinals. Chelsea were knocked out in the semi-finals. Koke a key player in both.
Atletico Madrid coach, Diego Simeone, revealed that Koke is a very important player for them. The way he (Koke) plays, his way of understanding tactics. Since arriving here, he is growing very rapidly.
Today he is one of the best players of La Liga. Everything he achieved now is the result of all his efforts and hard work. That's good news for everyone. (Diego Simeone)
Praise of Koke came from Xavi Hernandez, Barcelona's senior midfielder. Xavi also expressed his admiration for Koke as a great player by having everything: talent, physical ability.
He is a present and future footballer. He will be the leader of the Spanish midfield orchestra in the next 10 years. I have a special relationship with him because we play in the same position. (Xavi Hernandez)
Until now Koke is still able to maintain the glory that he showed in the 2013/14 season. He remains a mainstay player. His position has not been replaced.
In the Europa League this season for example. Minutes play Koke at most among the Atletico players. The duration of his performance in 8 games reached 665 minutes.
The number of opportunities is directly proportional to the magnitude of Koke's contribution. The number of goals is only 2 and asisnya 1 only, but the role of Koke as a ball divider is very vital. Per Europa League match, Koke took 69.4 bait. In comparison: Koke just off 57.6 bait per game in La Liga.
Koke per game feed accuracy is also good. In the Europa League the percentage is 85.6 percent. In La Liga 85.2 percent.
Questioning a key pass, again Koke's stats in the Europa League are better than La Liga: 1.8 key passes at European club matches and 1.5 in domestic league matches.
Other statistics show Koke is more aggressive in the Europa League than La Liga. On average 1 shot Koke release in the Europa League. In La Liga only 0.8.
The numbers show Koke more impressive in the Europa League. It was not out of his desire to win the competition, because Atletico failed to win La Liga and Copa del Rey this season.