Johnny Cardoso kept his place in Atletico Madrid’s midfield and finished the full 90 minutes in a 2-1 road win over Deportivo Alaves on Saturday, extending a run that now includes three straight starts. He completed 73 of 77 passes and helped steady a match Atletico had to work for before Cristian Romero scored the late winner.
For Cardoso, the performance mattered beyond one result. Atletico Madrid picked up its first road win over Alaves since January 2021, and the midfielder was central to the control that made it possible. He won eight duels, made two interceptions and added two tackles, the kind of line that shows a player doing more than moving the ball safely from one side to the other.
That is why his name is being watched now. Cardoso is in his second season with Atletico Madrid and has recently been starting in midfield, but the club’s next test comes this week when it hosts Manchester United in UEFA Champions League play. A third straight start suggests trust, yet it does not guarantee the next one, especially with competition for minutes still tight.
There is also the other side of the picture. Cardoso did not make the U.S. Men’s National Team roster for the September-October window, even with this stretch of form building around him. That omission makes every strong club showing carry more weight, because a run like this could push him back into the mix for November if he keeps producing at the same level.
For now, the clearest reading is that Cardoso has done what a midfielder can do to stay on the field: he has made himself useful, reliable and hard to take out. The next answer comes this week, when Atletico Madrid hosts Manchester United and shows whether three straight starts are the start of a longer spell or just a strong week.
