Yannick Ferreira Carrasco growing in stature for Atletico Madrid in Primera Liga and Europe

Ian Hawkey previews the Uefa Champions League last 16 second leg tie between Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen, paying particular attention to Belgian forward Yannick Ferreira Carrasco.

Yannick Ferreira Carrasco has evolved from impact sub to a key man in Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid side. Javier Soriano / AFP

Uefa Champions League, Round of 16, second leg: Atletico Madrid (4) v Bayer Leverkusen (2), Vicente Calderon, Wednesday 11.45pm (UAE)

One or two humourists among the Atletico Madrid faithful described it as his best strike of the ball in weeks.

Certainly, it made good television, a firmly struck chip that looped into the air and left those who had watched from close quarters open-mouthed.

The trouble was, the object being kicked was not a football, but a water bottle.

Yannick Ferreira Carrasco had seethed quietly for a few moments before venting his frustration. He had taken his seat on the bench, substituted after just over an hour of Atletico’s goalless draw against Alaves in the Primera Liga at the end of January.

Only once he was seated had he lashed out at the bottle. Luckily, the object’s trajectory was disturbed when it rebounded upwards off the lip of the dugout. The enraged Carrasco had swiped it so hard that it might otherwise have ended up in the centre circle.

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“I like when I see players show that they are angry at being taken off,” said Atletico manager Diego Simeone of the incident, widely repeated on TV replays ever since.

Word is that Simeone spoke less forgivingly of Carrasco’s theatrics when they spoke in the shelter of the dressing-room. The Belgian was left out of the starting line-up for the next league fixture.

Any lasting damage to the relationship between coach and player from that turbulent episode is hard to detect.

Six weeks on from the flashpoint moment, Carrasco, 23, remains a valued asset as Atletico attempt to steer themselves, via Wednesday’s second leg of a last-16 tie in which they hold a 4-2 advantage over Bayer Leverskusen, into a fourth successive Uefa Champions League quarter-final.

Two of those European runs have ended with silver medals. In last season’s final, a defeat on penalties to Real Madrid, it was Carrasco who scored Atletico’s equaliser for the 1-1 draw that took the sides to a shoot-out.

He was a second half substitute that night in Milan, playing the impact sub role that he performed for much of his first season in Spain. He has been a starter far more often in this, his second campaign, and for the early months of it, Carrasco looked electric.

To the pace and energy that Atletico identified when they bought him from Monaco in 2015 had been added more poise on the ball and the sort of industry and defensive responsibility Simeone values.

He duly signed a contract extension with a €100 million (Dh390.7m) buyout clause. Simeone gave him the highest praise.

“He works as hard as any player here,” Simeone said. “He’s winning ball back as well as making himself available in attack. His progress reminds me of Antoine Griezmann’s at a similar stage in his career.”

As Griezmann is Atletico’s superstar, the words resonated.

But then there was a slump in form, and a layoff with an Achilles problem that interrupted the momentum of the bright young Belgian.

The incident with the bottle followed Simeone’s suggestion that Carrasco had expressed his reluctance to do duty on the right wing of Atletico’s attack, and preferred other positions.

Evidence from the last few weeks, though, has not been of a prima donna, but a key man for the business end of the season. Carrasco has two goals and two assists from his last five starts in a league campaign which will remain tense for a while.

Atletico, just four points above fifth-placed Villarreal, chase a top-four finish to guarantee their place in the 2017/18 Champions League.

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