Atletico Madrid: Goalkeeper Antonio Gomis forced into outfield debut in pre-season

Atletico Madrid had to give a youth team goalkeeper his debut as an outfielder in a pre-season fixture yesterday.

Antonio Gomis plies his trade for Atletico’s B-team but was included in the first team squad in pre-season, which turned into a debut against Spanish third tier outfit Numancia in truly bizarre fashion.

The game, which Atleti won 4-0, was decided with plenty of time to spare as Diego Simeone’s side had bagged all four goals after just 52 minutes of play, but ended with a rare twist as Gomis was introduced.

Thomas Lemar opened the scoring for Atletico after just eight minutes and their lead was doubled just after half an hour when Angel Correa got on the scoresheet.

Geoffrey Kondogbia made it 3-0 on the cusp of half-time, and it took just seven minutes into the second half for Matheus Cunha to make it four, with season preparations evidently stepping up a notch ahead of a visit to Getafe on 15 August.

In what was the ideal, lowkey fitness builder for Simeone’s men, the game had a true pre-season feel to it, despite the 2022/23 campaign being just around the corner. Koke had to pause mid-game to take a selfie with a fan, but that moment was dwarfed when Gomis’ unexpected debut came after 76 minutes.

Defender Mario Hermoso unfortunately went down injured, and with Simeone having already used up his available substitutes, the one man that hadn’t been called upon was the 19-year-old goalkeeper, who was yet to play for the first team in any capacity at all.

Amazingly, Gomis was actually called upon to fill in outfield. He first pulled on the kit of Nahuel Molina, but then took that one off and ended up making his debut wearing defender Felipe’s number 18 strip.

Did he play as a defender, though? Absolutely no