Sure, APOEL isn’t a slouch of a team and we still haven’t won a goddamn game since October 3rd, but I’m still confident. We indeed tied to APOEL at home the last time we met, but this Atlético squad is um, less stupid than the one that played back in September (?). Plus, our schedule is much easier: visit to APOEL then the group stage ends at home against Porto. Assuming they lose to Chelsea in the final matchday (which isn’t too farfetched), we will need only one victory to go into Europa. A point tomorrow will still mean that we’re 99% into the Europa League.

This Europa League is the place that Atlético deserves to be right now. The Champions League is way too big of a place for a scrub like Atleti at the moment, and the average person would wonder how the 16th place team in Spain is in this competition at all. Sure, the revenues will greatly be lower after these group stages are over, and the fans will be pissed that they won’t be hearing the fancy music at the Calderon for a long time (and I mean at least two years, the Champions League qualification for next season already looks impossible at this point). However, think of it as a saving grace, and it’s better than no Europe at all. Plus, we could run into Liverpool there!

If you’ve been following Atleti at all this season (something that’s not easy to admit since they’re sucking so bad, you all don’t have to come out of hiding if you don’t want to), you’re well aware of the situation. Worst defense in Spain, Diego Forlan is having trouble scoring, Kun Aguero is more likely to leave the club the better he gets, etc. I thought that Atletico would turn the corner last weekend when they visited Deportivo, but after an intense match tied at 1-1, Depor got a penalty in the last min and sealed the victory. Another loss for El Pupas and another week waiting for a victory.

What hurts most is that the catastrophe doesn’t look like it’s going to improve any time soon. The matches we play will be very difficult in the next few months: Porto, Villarreal, Sevilla, etc. What we need to kick start any good streak for the team is a damn victory. Just one is all that I ask. The first couple of fixtures with Quique in charge weren’t easy fixtures, if you want me to be honest. Under him, we lost once at home (out of two, not counting the Copa matches) and the away losses were against good opponents. Still, all the Atletico supporters are regretting their chants last season of “Aguirre vete ya” as the team struggled but was still in the top 8 last year. Javier Aguirre is laughing his way into South Africa with a nacho hat on and horchata in hand.

Tactics:

It wouldn’t be of any surprise that Quique attempts to throw an offensive lineup onto the pitch. And by offensive, I mean Jurado in the center midfield (Raul Garcia is out) and Cleber possibly in the d-mid. When you add Simao, Reyes, Forlan, and Aguero, that should be enough to score a few goals. Yeah, we’re Atlético and it’s likely that we don’t score at all (it’s probably the red and white stripes or something) but just look at that attack. So much potential, and if they try as hard as they did against Chelsea, the goals will show up.

In the defense, we got back Ujfalusi from a minor knock and Pernia is an option for the left back position (not likely that he takes captain Antonio Lopez’s place, but the competition can be helpful). Accompanying Ujfalusi is probably either Pablo (boo) or Dominguez (yeah!). On the right, the dreadful and washed out Perea will probably be there, unless Ujfalusi is put on the right (he’s solid there) and Pablo/Dominguez play in the center. Actually, I prefer the latter option. Screw Perea.

So that being said, my expected lineup is…

Asenjo; Ujfalusi, Dominguez, Pablo, A. Lopez; Reyes, Jurado, Cleber, Simao; Forlan, Aguero

The team must win this for the fans, for the stupid organization (money money money!), and more importantly, to gain its confidence and swag back. This victory could do it; being secured into the Europa League and knowing how to win again will do wonders on the team. I’m not even kidding. Even if it’s against a relatively unknown team from Cyprus in a battle for 3rd place in a group, a victory could be huge in many ways.

Aupa Atleti!

La Liga maybe commence a little less than two weeks from now, but I believe that the season starts tomorrow, and in the worst possible fashion: in a critical game that could decide whether or not we’ll be in the Champions League this season. How lovely.

Despite me raving all of last season over how our objective was to at least land fourth place and get into the Champions League, I didn’t bother to remember that fourth place meant having to take on another powerhouse. And I didn’t know that due to the UEFA’s non champions path, we would take on an even harder team than usual. That could have been us in Celtic’s shoes taking on Arsenal!

We aren’t new to this scenario. Last year, we took on Schalke 04 in the 3rd round qualifier. Schalke was a Champions League quarterfinalist from the previous season, and after a 1-0 loss at Gelsenkirchen we ended up destroying them 4-0 on the return leg. Schalke later ended up imploding and landing in 8th place in the Bundesliga that season.

Will this happen to Panathinaikos? I hope not, I actually wish them well, but I obviously still don’t want them to beat us. They are in a similar position as us, working hard all season to get into the Champions League while actually faring well in that same exact tournament (and I’m happy that they defeated Inter – twice). The Champions League was in their plans all season just like us, and both of us need everything that comes with playing in the Champions League: the prestige, the boost in revenues, the experience, etc.

The last time we played them, we won 2-1 at the Vicente Calderon, back in the 07/08 UEFA Cup. I won’t use this result as a basis for tomorrow, because both teams are much different than back then, and this first leg is in Athens.

The advantage they will have tomorrow is obvious: their fans and stadium. Just check this out:

Intimidating enough? Meh, we’ll be fine. The Spanish press hasn’t been referring to the Olympic Stadium as “Greek Inferno” for nothing.

How are we doing? We just beat Liverpool a little over a week ago, won the Trofeo Teresa Herrera last Wednesday (a match hosted by Deportivo La Coruna, in which we tied 1-1 and won on penalties to claim a giant ass trophy), and defeated a 3rd division team (oooooh!). We’re in a good position mentally, having won all that in the past ten days.

I’ll tell you this much: if you’ve seen us last season, you’ll know that we’re not messing around. The Champions League is serious business, and we proved to be serious contenders. Maybe our league season was shakey, but in the end we pulled off some amazing comebacks and results and we deserve to be playing at the highest tier of European football.

We are hungry. Maybe hungrier than Panathinaikos even.

The roster:

PORTEROS

1 Asenjo.
13 Roberto.

DEFENSAS

3 Antonio López.
5 Heitinga.
17 Ujfalusi.
31 Álvaro Domínguez.
22 Pablo Ibáñez.
16 Juanito.

CENTROCAMPISTAS

8 Raúl García.
11 Maxi Rodríguez.
12 Paulo Assunção.
20 Simão.
23 Cléber Santana.
9 Jurado.
19 Reyes.

DELANTEROS

10 Agüero.
7 Forlán.
14 Sinama Pongolle.

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Enjoy the game. Tomorrow is an important day!

Aupa Atleti!

It makes sense that Atlético wouldn’t try too hard considering that they’re already qualified for the next round, but the beating that they took (sans the goals) was very painful to watch. In the match, there was only two different kinds of Atlético players on the pitch: those who tried to intercept the ball then get it taken away, and Grégory Coupet.

Before writing any review, I’ll just show these statistics:

Shots:

Marseille 20, Atlético 1

Shots on Goal:

Marseille 4, Atlético 0

Corner kicks:

Marseille 13, Atlético 0

Have I said enough? I think so. Zero facking shots on goal.

I’m not angry nor am I lazy, but I’ll summarize the match quickly:

Atlético players gets the ball. Atlético player passes the ball but it gets intercepted by a Marseille player. Marseille player crosses the ball to a midfielder/striker, midfielder/striker shoots the ball, Coupet catches it. Coupet passes the ball to an Atlético player. Repeat.

Not so boring for a Marseille fan, considering that they could have scored a shit-ton of goals. The atmosphere in the stadium was incredibly intimidating as well, so with basic math…

Loud Marseille fans + no Atlético supporters + already being qualified for the next round = no Atlético effort and a good workout for Coupet

Right?

Good luck to Marseille in the UEFA Cup. Long life to the released-on-bail Santos Mirasierra, allez l’OM, and all that good stuff.

I’m just glad this crap is OVER. “Atlético fans promote Nazism”, “Marseille fans provoked the police”, “Santos did nothing”. It’s all irrelevant now. PHEW

The confirmed possible rivals for the next round so far:

Roma, Panathinaikos

And some match photos to end things off, from the excellent OM official website:

Cana, get your hand of there

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We play Real Betis this weekend. Until then, Aupa Atleti!

Wow. Big game we have ahead of us tomorrow night.

The Atletico v. Marseille match is not only a game that would add points to bring us top of Group D, but also a very political and emotional game (mostly for OM fans). As many of you are aware, OM supporter Santos Mirasierra was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for involvement in events that happened October 1st, when Marseille was visiting the Vicente Calderon Stadium. This caused OM fans in an uproar, stating such things as “for every year Santos is jailed, a Atletico supporter will be killed”. This event has overshadowed the game itself, bringing many supporters to forget that this is a match between two teams, with eleven players each, who had nothing to do with the sentencing of Santos. Atletico supporters have been urged by their club to not travel to the Stade Velodrome to watch the match. Atletico itself has also been asked by UEFA to not travel til match day. Security has been assured at the stadium, but you can never been sure that everything will go as planned. Here’s to hopefully a great game without violence. But anyways, to the match:

Javier Aguirre is very pleased with his team’s condition, and with no injuries, was able to pick and choose from his full squad. Left out of this important game with Olympique Marseille are John Heitinga, Simao, Paulo Assuncao, Angel Bernabe, and Alvaro Dominguez. I’m guessing leaving the players out was for injury precautions, so the squad travel to the Stade Velodrome match day will be:

GOALKEEPERS
1 Coupet
25 Leo Franco

DEFENDERS
2 Seitaridis
3 Antonio López
4 Pernía
17 Ujfalusi
21 Perea
22 Pablo Ibáñez

MIDFIELDERS
8 Raúl García
9 Luis García
11 Maxi Rodríguez
16 Éver Banega
18 Maniche
19 Miguel
24 Camacho

STRIKERS
7 Forlán
10 Kun Agüero
14 Sinama-Pongolle

Still a very strong squad traveling, and hopefully, to provide a win over OM. Aguirre has stated that Camacho and Miguel would have inclusion during the match, so look out for solid performances from the two Atleti youngsters.
Although Atletico Madrid have a very strong squad, its not safe to assume that this will be a walk in the park. OM have a solid squad with some very talented players such as Lorik Cana and Mamadou Niang. Keep an eye out for Niang, as he’s had a pretty good season so far with OM, scoring 6 in 15 in Ligue 1 and 3 goals in 5 appearances in Champions League. Although I doubt there won’t be many Atletico supporters, if any, I still hope for no violences to occur. I look forward to watching this game tomorrow, and even happier once this whole mess is out of the way. Again, tell me what I could do better, this is my first important post, what could I covered better, or covered at all?

oh yeah, and

AUPA ATLETICO

This means that all four La Liga teams are through, and Spain will be represented proudly in the Champions League.

The PSV match can be considered “meh”. The worst part of course being the absence of the supporters from the stands, due to the police/fan/whatever violence at the Marseille match. The coolest part of course being the scary roar outside the stadium a couple of seconds after both goals were scored, and the awesome idea to broadcast the crowd outside on the screens in the Calderon, in order to motivate the team. Now that’s support, my friends.

Atlético Madrid 2 – PSV Eindhoven 1

Simao 14′
Maxi Rodriguez 28′
Danny Koevermans 47′

Watch Atletico Madrid v PSV in News Online  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The two goals were a bit cheap, yet they sort of weren’t. They were both scored because of terrible PSV defense, something that isn’t really common to see as PSV always has a tight back four. The first goal was scored after the PSV defense was jumbled up and Simao only had to tap it in.

The second goal was another terrible PSV mistake, with the ball hitting Carlos Salcido on accident and the ball was laid right in front of Maxi, with a completely open space to shoot to boot. Just like that, the match was 2-0 and PSV was getting pissed.

Simao was the man of the match, scoring the first goal and setting up many good chances. The best chance after the second goal was a pass to the near-center of the box to Kun Aguero who ballooned the ball into the stands. Overall good pace and good chances by the entire team, who weren’t being conducted by the sidelined Javier Aguirre.

PSV’s goal was an easy tap-in by Danny Koevermans in the 47th minute, after the ball kept on moving around in the pool of players during the corner kick and finally went in. Bad job by the Atleti defense, who could’ve reacted a little faster. PSV had plenty of time to level the game (pretty much the entire second half) but in the end they couldn’t make up for the two easy goals they let in.

If PSV’s defense wasn’t such a wreck, they could’ve at least drawn the match, and didn’t have the Atletico supporters to try to intimidate them. I could care less as we won, but PSV should’ve done better. All they have left is UEFA cup pride to fall back on, and that’s only if they go through. Good luck in the future, PSV.

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We host the Garay-powered Racing Santander next weekend, and will try again to redeem ourselves in this gripping La Liga campaign.

Aupa Atleti!

Un dia sin aficionados.

Een dag zonder fans.

It sucks in any language that you put it. The Powers That Be didn’t allow the UEFA to let us slide with our punishment and the “no fans allowed” punishment is something that some Italian teams are very used to.

75 people will be allowed into the stadium, which includes the players and both teams’ staff. The only supporters will be outside of the stadium, and any goal will be celebrated by the players with echos traveling down the tunnels of el Calderon. The teams will be without any of the fire and passion given by the support and they’re just going to have to pretend there are people chanting, I guess. Let’s just hope it doesn’t affect the mentality of the players in a bad way.

This is Champions League matchday 5 and the feelings of an Atlético fan couldn’t be any more mixed.

Onto football matters…

Atlético

I’m not even going to talk about La Liga, as I’m still crushed by the last-minute equalizer that Numancia scored on Sunday. Simply put, we’re not in good form and are 6 points from 4th place.

The Champions League seems to be a completely different beast as we’re doing fantastic in the group. We are currently the leaders of the group with 8 points, only on top of Liverpool from higher goal differential. We’re as good as through if we win tomorrow. If we draw and Marseille wins tomorrow (unlikely), they can defeat us in Matchday 6 and go through if goal differential permits. So basically, we’re completely safe if we win tomorrow.

And if the ref gives PSV a last-minute penalty tomorrow, I’ll probably punch a hole through my laptop.

PSV

Oh PSV, how inconsistent you are. PSV has been Dutch champion the past 4 years and their best recent run into the Champions League was two seasons ago when they made it into the quarter finals, only to be thrashed by Liverpool both home and away. Last season, they didn’t even go through to the round of 16 and were demolished by Fiorentina in the UEFA Cup.

This season doesn’t look to be too great for PSV either. They are currently 5th in the Eredivisie, fresh off of a 4-0 victory over SC Heracles. They were recently given the wake-up of the season two weekends ago by getting thrashed 4-1 by Ajax. Ouch.

PSV has much to prove and they probably learned their lesson after our visit to the Philips Stadion, in which we won 0-3. Does that mean that we’re going to win 3-0 this time also? The cocky Atlético fan inside me says yes, but I expect a very defensive match that could end in a draw or a 1-0 in our favor.

Much like Atlético, PSV may be inconsistent and often underperform but their talent is definitely there. Within their defense plays Carlos Salcido and Francisco “Maza” Rodriguez, a Mexican duo that form a classic partnership that goes back to their days playing for CD Guadalajara back in Mexico. In the defense also plays Erik Pieters, a rising Oranje star that is beginning to make his mark.

In the attack lies occasional Oranje starlets Ibrahim Affelay and Danny Koevermans, the latter being one of PSV’s best players in the season so far. Ecuadorian Edison Mendez is also a player with a powerful shot and one that can cause trouble, although he may not be a starter in the match.

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The boring stuff:

Referee: Massimo Busacca, “hailing from the Italian speaking park of Switzerland”, in the words of the ESPN commentators.

Stadium: Vicente Calderon, Madrid

Spectators in attendance: 0

Atletico roster: Unavailable, Aguirre lets us know the starting XI but the roster is nowhere to be found yet…

Confirmed starting XI:
Coupet; Seitaridis, Heitinga, Ujfalusi, Pernía; Raúl García, Maniche, Maxi, Simão; Forlán y Kun Agüero.

PSV roster:

GK: Isaksson y Cássio Ramos.
DF: Rodríguez, Addo, Salcido, Bréchet, Pieters y Wuytens.
MF: Simons, Méndez, Zonneveld, Afellay, Bakkal, Culina, Dzsudzsák y Ojo.
ST: Koevermans, Lazovic y Nijland.

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Let’s seal this once and for all.

Aupa Atleti!

Steven Gerrard’s cheesy grin has never pissed me off more.

Everyone pretty much knows what happened yesterday. Stevie G threw himself at Pernia and was allowed a penalty for it. I’m not even going to complain about the ref. It’s just a shame how luck is never on our side in this Champions League campaign. From the stadium and coach bans, to the disallowed goals and stupid penalty calls, it feels like there’s something trying to hold us back in this campaign (My finger isn’t pointing to the sky! How dare you accuse me??!)

Lineup:

Leo Franco – Perea, Heitinga, Pernia, Antonio Lopez – Maniche, Raul Garcia, Assuncao, Simao – Maxi, Forlan

Aguero for Forlan (71)
Luis Garcia for Simao (90)

Why Aguero was rested somewhat baffles me. I know that Kun himself said that it’ll take a while for him to get back in form, but if scoring two goals last weekend doesn’t mean that he’s in form, then I’ll be damned. 71st minute entrance is better than nothing. And poor Luis Garcia, given only a few minutes to play against his former club in his former stadium.

Match highlights:

It seemed like Liverpool didn’t have it in them to crank out that 2-1 or 3-1 they are so fond of. Robbie Keane didn’t connect too well and only had minor opportunities to shine. Dirk “that’s not a mask” Kuyt had an off-day and was very ineffective on the pitch. The true Liverpool stars were the defensive midfielders and the defense. Masch and Xabi Alonso were in good form and did their job well providing passes and fulfilling their minor defensive duties. Carra’ also denied us some crucial chances.

Our team, obviously, played the more effective game. Leo Franco was in good shape and did his job well to deny ‘Pool’s shots. The midfield did well with the passes and the pacing. Maxi did fantastic and of course, scored the killer goal of the night. Forlan and Aguero didn’t do too much but whatever.

(And yes, I’m aware that Pernia touched the ball with his hand in the box which should’ve been a penalty. Which is why I don’t want to discuss the refs.)

Here’s how things stand in the group (cool picture that I snagged from my stream):

I’m a firm believer that we’re going to qualify for the next round. We lead the group (!) and all that we have left is a behind-closed-doors home fixture against PSV and a match away to Marseille. If we win one of these matches, we can say hello to the round of 16. I’m so excited.

Who cares about the bad luck? Once we’re into the round of the 16 (hopefully) these bans will be left behind and we’ll begin our next objective of going as far as we can through the round of 16.

We play Osasuna this weekend. How fun.

Aupa Atleti!

Things are finally rolling and we’re more than ready to take on Liverpool. We’re getting things back on track with two consecutive wins, one in the Copa and one in the league against Mallorca last weekend. Our current objective is to qualify to the next round of the Champions League, and we’re currently in a good position to do so. We just have this fixture against Liverpool to get past, and the result will probably be a deciding factor in how we’ll end up in the group.

It’s not just a fixture. It’s a fixture against freakin’ Liverpool (the crazy good Champions League version).

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Speaking of things rolling, this blog hasn’t been rolling in the past days, due to hardcore schoolwork and other stuff. Here’s what has happened in the world of Atlético in the past few days:

A solid review of the match can be found at Mallorca Offside..

Anfield

Such a majestic stadium is only deserved by a team with such history as Liverpool. The stadium isn’t exactly a fortress, with the last Champions League loss at home being against Marseille last season in the group stages last year. The losses at home during the league and FA Cup since then are irrelevant to any Champions League record. Simply put, we better watch the f@$k out.

“Pastry Shop” Benitez is giving ‘Nando the choice of playing in the match against Atlético. Torres is almost fully recovered from injury and there’s a 70% chance that he’ll start. However awesome it may be for Torres to play against his old team, I hope that he says NO. We really don’t need to feel the Wrath of Torres. But I also admit to wanting to see him play against Atlético. Argh, decisions decisions…

Liverpool are fresh off of a loss to Tottenham (el oh el) and want to get back into winning ways. They’re currently in 2nd in the EPL standings, only behind to Chelsea because of goal differential (Chelsea 23, Liverpool 8). It’s no surprise that they’re not too happy and want to get back to winning ways. And guess who they’ll be taking their anger out on tomorrow. Oh dear.

Back in Atlético land…

The club appealed the stadium ban to UEFA and it was reduced to playing the PSV match behind closed doors. Oh boy is that match going to be awkward. However, poor Javier Aguirre is still banned from the match tomorrow and the PSV match in three weeks. [Insert joke about having enough time to make Mexican food here.]

We’re now in a semi-acceptable 6th place in La Liga, only 9 points from the leader (thanks for losing, Valencia). It’s really not too bad, considering that we’ve gotten our really ugly fixtures out of the way and our next few fixtures can be what many people call a “slide”.

Manchester City has begun swinging on Kun Aguero’s nu… testi…. privates all over again. Word on the street is that their offer for him will blow the Robinho deal out of the water, but once again, Aguirre warned City off reminding everyone that Kun is happy where he is, regardless of money. That’s right Citeh, buzz off.

Some words from Aguirre about the match:

“To be honest, I want Torres to play so we face the best Liverpool possible.”

“Liverpool didn’t deserve to lose last weekend, although they eventually had to. Our goal is to take advantage of the situation and to keep on doing damage.”

“I don’t think that the atmosphere at the stadium will affect our team. It’s more than just a Champions League match.

We’ll be with a near-full squad tomorrow:

Atlético roster:

KEEPERS
1 Coupet.
25 Leo Franco.

DEFENDERS
3 Antonio López.
4 Pernía.
5 Heitinga.
21 Perea.
22 Pablo Ibáñez.

MIDFIELDERS
8 Raúl García.
9 Luis García.
11 Maxi Rodríguez.
12 Paulo Assunção.
16 Éver Banega.
18 Maniche.
19 Miguel de las Cuevas.
20 Simão.
24 Ignacio Camacho.

FORWARDS
7 Forlán.
10 Kun Agüero.
14 Sinama-Pongolle.

Have fun. ESPN2 again, usual Champions League time.

Aupa Atleti!

P.S. here’s an old picture of Kun Aguero with Fernando Torres 2 years ago.

How cute.

We have been saved by Simao. End of story. The stupid linesmen didn’t end up making us lose in the long run, and we’re in a good position to progress to the next round.

It wasn’t so much the fact that we got a point from this fixture, it was more of the fact that we didn’t lose again. If we had lost, we would’ve given in to that tiny little demon sitting on our shoulders telling us to press the Panic button. “Press it, you know you want to….”

In the words of Atlético president Enrique Cerezo, there was no racism tonight: just football. My favorite post-match moment was that of Liverpool and Atlético supporters waving at each other and shaking each other’s hand. This is the beauty of football, folks. All rivalries and hated aside, everyone was at the stadium to watch football, and that’s what they got.

Before the match, many Atlético fans planned on turning their backs during the Champions League theme, and that’s exactly what many of them did. The theme was also greeted with loud whistles and boos, all because of the madness caused by UEFA’s punishment given to us. On a side note, PSV is doing the same thing Liverpool did and requested to have their match played in Madrid again.

Liverpool were firing from all cylinders since the beginning, and the first half of the match was rightfully theirs. Their first goal was clearly offside, since Robbie Keane’s shoulder was ahead of the rest of the defenders. But the goal was allowed, so no use crying over spilt milk. Yossi Benayoun was very scary as well, as he was blasting shots like nobody’s business and even scored a disallowed goal. Ryan Babel introduced himself to the match by blasting the ball from halfway to test Leo Franco. Liverpool were/are a very scary team, and today was no exception.

We were dead until Kun Agüero was brought into the game at the beginning of the second half. But why? Why did it take Agüero’s presence to wake our attack up? In the second half, Maniche scored a goal from the corner of the box but it was allowed because of offside (and it wasn’t really offside, the genius linesman at it again). Moments later, Simao hit the crossbar, and at this moment we were ready to fight back.

The best moment of the match was obviously Simao’s goal, which was scored by a nice through-pass from Diego Forlán. The stadium was roaring with excitement (as was I) because it was the “about damn time” goal. A few minutes later, Miguel De las Cuevas shot a volley that was barely saved by Reina. Atlético’s resilience was excellent, and we earned that point (that sounds so lame).

If we win one more match, we’re 90% there in our path to the final 16, assuming PSV doesn’t win their next 3 matches (one of them a visit to our stadium). I don’t expect Atlético to win at Anfield, so we must try hard at getting a result at Marseille and another win a home to PSV, which shouldn’t be too hard.

We can take this match as a better reason to hold our heads high when we face Villarreal this weekend. A preview will follow shortly.

Thank you Liverpool for a great match, and thanks to the peeps at Liverpool Offside for a great liveblog.

All I want for Christmas… is a ticket to the next round of the Champions League. And maybe better results in the league. Just maybe.

I get you into the next round, meng!

AUPA ATLETI!

(and forgive my ameteur MS Paint job!)

Liverpool is a club that is well-respected by the Atlético fanbase, obviously because of Fernando Torres. Liverpool gives us a good reason to watch the English Premier League. The Vicente Calderon often has “You’ll Never Walk Alone” plastered on banners and many of the supporters wear Liverpool kits with Torres’ name on them (I know I’ve got one). Excluding those nasty Ultras that always like to cause trouble and give our club a bad name, we’ll welcome Liverpool with open arms (the match is still considered “high risk” though).

Silly UEFA postponed their decision to punish us and change the location of the game to another part of Spain. This was the talk of the week, as people kept on arguing over whose fault it was over the crowd trouble during the Marseille match. The punishment will be postponed, but we’re grateful that everything will go according to plan.

This match will be very special for players from both teams. Fernando Torres was going to be the star of the match but didn’t make it because of injury. From Atlético Madrid, Luis Garcia and Florent Sinama-Pongolle were once players at Liverpool and have joined our club recently. Liverpool’s Pepe Reina has a soft spot for Atlético, because his father was a goalkeeper at our club. Liverpool gaffer Rafa Benitez will also enjoy his return to his home city of Madrid (hopefully not with a victory).

Atlético:

Atlético is under much pressure after losing the last three La Liga matches, the most recent loss against Real Madrid, a thought that still makes me put on a serious face and stare at the wall for a minute. We’re in 8th place with 9 points, which is very embarrassing considering that we’re behind minnows such as Almeria and Malaga.

In the Champions League, we lead the group after a 0-3 win at PSV and a 2-1 win over Marseille. Our chances of progressing to the Round of 16 look very positive, God forbid that Marseille or PSV win the next two matches. If we defeat Liverpool, I don’t think it’s cocky to say that we’ll be grasping that spot in the Round of 16.

Javier Aguirre

The man under the most pressure is our manager Javier Aguirre. The rumors about his replacement are already circulating, with the stand-out name being Quique Flores, current Benfica manager and ex-Valencia failure. In a press conference, Aguirre was calm and said that the sacking rumors are common and that he doesn’t feel pressure. He also made note that he may rest Aguero from the starting lineup, in which all I have to say is “ehh…”. Resting Aguero as a super-sub may be a good idea considering that he’s probably tired from playing in South America a week ago and then playing the derby on Saturday. But it’s still Kun, he can be the true difference in the match. So we’ll see what Aguirre decides to do.

Liverpool:

Liverpool are currently in 2nd place in the Premier League standings, tied with Chelsea at 20 points. Their season so far has been nothing short of amazing, with the highlight so far being the incredible 2-1 victory over Manchester United. Not only are they beginning to rediscover their league form, but they are the same Liverpool that gets morning wood dreaming about making at least the semifinals of the Champions League year after year, and succeeding. They defeated Marseille 1-2 in France, thanks to a brace by Stevie G, and defeated PSV 3-1 at home. Liverpool aren’t taking crap, they don’t want a close-call entry to the round of 16 like they did last season.

Liverpool are without the tough and bald Slovakian Martin Skrtel and of course, Fernando Torres. However, those players consist of a small fraction of Liverpool’s talent. The player to watch out for is obviously Captain Fantastic Steven Gerrard, who is probably the best midfielder in the world and is currently tied with, you guessed it, Kun Aguero as the current top scorer of the Champions League. The Liverpool attack is helped greatly by Dirk Kuyt, who sometimes forgets that he’s a striker and helps out the defense and midfield on many occasions. Ryan Babel might play in the match as a sub, and will probably score, so hopefully we’re winning by a comfortable margin by then.

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Prediction:

4-2 to Atlético. We have LOTS to prove and we will. We are the butt of the jokes in Europe as we are taking crap over the stadium situation and because we’re doing bad in the league. This is THE match to prove ourselves, that we deserve to be here in the Champions League and that we ARE indeed a real team. The critics will eat their words, and we’ll almost secure a spot in the next round in the process.

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Rosters:

Atlético: List will be released tomorrow.

Liverpool: Keepers: Cavalieri, Reina.
Defenders: Dossena, Agger, Fabio Aurelio, Arbeloa, Carragher, Darby.
Midfielders: Gerrard, Riera, Xabi Alonso, Benayoun, Pennant, Mascherano, Lucas Leiva.
Strikers: Keane, Babel, Kuyt, Ngog.

Enjoy the match on ESPN2 (also in HD for you privileged folk) at usual Champions League time. Sit back, grab a cold one, and watch this match (no other match!)

AUPA ATLETI!!!!