The “friendly” didn’t go so bad. Knowing that Atlético actually tried to play a solid match this time was enough to settle my nerves.

Not too many chances and shots on goal, but the team still didn’t do too bad.

Still a loss, but with heads held up high. It’s just the Copa del Rey. Even though it was technically our most realistic trophy achievable, winning the Copa won’t make up for having a shite season, just ask our friends Valencia. It’s like the “bonus mini-game” of La Liga, it’s nifty but all it really does is let you meet the King of Spain and let you play in the UEFA Cup and in the Supercup. (Just kidding. It may be more than that, but I’d be more positive about it if we were still in the competition).

Not saying that our season is shite, though. The past two weeks have been shite, but Atlético is pretty good at recovering. Nothing to worry about.

Here’s Sinama’s goal. Look up the Barca goals yourselves

For playing a match with impossible odds of scoring three goals against Barcelona, Atlético could’ve been much worse. The passing was a bit crap, but there were some bring spots. Simao had a decent match, providing some good crosses and even slipping past Yaya Toure once or twice. He even shot the ball into an open net after beating Pinto and only being denied by Marquez. Aguero unfortunately didn’t produce any magic, and was *gasp* outdone by Sinama this time around. Sinama’s confidence must have gone up the roof after this match. He netted the first goal and even scored a second in the second half, only to be disallowed for offside, and both beautifully serviced by Simao.

There’s one chance left to get back at Barcelona this season, this time at home and in La Liga. That’s not until March, but I’m already anticipating it. Hopefully we don’t draw them in the Champions League, assuming both teams go through, and giving us two more fixtures from hell.

Aguirre has another shot to prove himself, and that’s the visit to Almeria this weekend. A match that’s special for Mexicans, as both him and Hugo Sanchez (Almeria gaffer) are the national team’s past two home-born managers. The “two games left to convince the board” report is probably irrelevant now as the board gave him their backing. Although Aguirre may be gone soon, there’s really no point in getting rid of him now. I can only think about a certain team that rhymes with “Shmottenham Shmotspur” that got rid of a crap coach, put in a better one, but couldn’t improve the team’s table position too drastically. I’m not saying that the same thing would happen to us as it did to the “Shpurs” (comparing is degrading to our team) but I’m saying that I doubt I’ll see a complete turnaround with a new coach. We’re only 4 points from 4th place, and that’s not TOO bad. Like I said before, we’re good at recovering and the players will want to save Aguirre’s arse as they like him so much. At least until the end of the season for el Vasco.

Plus, with us still in the Champions League and a half of the season yet to go, we’re not completely finished. A bit of a slump, but all that we have to do is try our hardest at what we have left. One thing’s for sure, I won’t “glory hunt” and leave you readers

There’s my short Copa post, now lets move on.

Two times in a row we lose to Barça? Not surprising. They were definitely the better team but I’m not going to talk about how much better they were, as this is the wrong blog for that. If you’re familiar with that crazy Barca team that you’ve seen all season, they were definitely there yesterday.

However, I did see a new Atlético squad yesterday, one that played like children and fouled the hell out of the opposition. Different than the squad that played Barcelona a few months ago. Then, they were helpless and yesterday they were just reckless.

The same problem happened this time just like against Valencia. We were “unfortunate” and “got into the way of greatness”. If this happens so often, are we to blame for sucking against superiority? Yes, yes, and yes.

The lineup was well chosen even without Aguero who was rested for the match (and now has pharyngitis):

Coupet – Seitaridis, Perea, Heitinga, Pernía – Paulo Assunçao, Maniche, Maxi, Sima -; Sinama Pongolle, Forlán

But the players were too damn clumsy for it to even matter. The first Messi goal pretty much ended the match there. Silly fouls and desperation became all the rage (Mexican syndrome? I’m looking at you, Aguirre) and the only response, a header from Ujfalusi, wasn’t enough for the team to prevent Messi to smash in a third. Heitinga’s foul on Messi wasn’t anything new either, as he can be a klutz inside the opposition’s box and can trip an opponent like no other, just watch the Madrid derby again.

I’m not saying that Atlético didn’t try, because they did at times. Maniche did have some decent shots on target that were no problem for Barça’s crazy-ass keeper, and Simao tried his butt off to create chances. Sinama even scored a goal that was ruled offside. There were just too many con’s to push aside the pro’s. It was a bit pathetic to see players like Sinama and Maniche pull stupid moves like that against the opposition. They know better than that, it’s called professionalism. Who the hell uses both elbows to keep the ball away from an opponent anyway, Maniche?

You can just watch the video and it summarizes the match very well.

Atlético showed their true colors today. In a way, I’m glad that they’ve lost these two past matches so they can properly place their hand on the ground and push themselves back up. However, I would think that winning one point against all the big teams would be enough to teach the team a lesson. Being knocked out of the Copa del Rey isn’t the end of the world. Atlético isn’t finished and there’s plenty to play for.

The return leg next week will be a mixed bag. Aguirre will certainly field a full-strength squad to prove to everyone how serious the team is about making a comeback, but it won’t be enough against a team like Barcelona. If they throw Messi onto the field, it’s already over. Barça’s job next week will be to prevent us from scoring three goals and probably score a goal for themselves for the hell of it. I’m not Guardiola but I know that they will want to preserve this lead as best as possible.

Blah screw it, it’s done for.

Time to sack Aguirre? Atlético fans are already calling for his head but it’s definitely the players’ fault for this loss. Who could’ve saved the team? I don’t think anybody could, the only thing missing was a lack of balls. A more inspirational talk couldn’t have saved this team from Messi either. Maybe he could’ve taught the team not to lose their cool.

There’s no crisis. Being in 5th place and three points from 3rd again isn’t really crisis material. These are surprisingly one of our best years of the decade but with the intentions of the club to grow into a powerhouse, something that the big cheeses say all the time, we’re on the wrong path. Perhaps a lack of maturity might be the cause of these results.

What is the lesson not learned? To grow the hell up.

So where is this Orihuela place? My reaction to hearing this name made me scratch my head and drool. Orihuela is located in the east part of Spain, in the lower Valencian region and close to Murcia (remember their team last season?).

A couple of Orihuela pictures, as it’s quite the pretty town:

I have an affinity for pretty houses, so forgive my bad selection of photos.

Orihuela CF plays in Municipal Los Arcos, a 5,000 seater. Obviously, a huge change from the 54,000+ that the Vicente Calderón holds.

Orihuela is currently in 18th place in the Seguna Grupo 3. From this video, this is what I concluded about the club:

-Jesus Christ himself is the manager
-The club president is probably less than 10 years older than me
-The vice president is probably less than 10 years older than me and wears a cool t-shirt.
-The team’s jerseys look store-bought from a K-mart (unless that was them training in the video)

We can expect to win this match, but one of the rules of football is to never underestimate. Can Orihuela win? I have no clue, but I do know is that they probably won’t be as star-struck playing Atlético Madrid, unlike if they played Real Madrid or Barcelona (both teams take up about 60% of the support in Spain, if I’m not mistaken).

A good chance for the club to earn some revenue, win or lose.

Here are the players that will travel there:

Leo Franco, Bernabé, Antonio López, Pernía, Perea, Pablo, Alvaro Domínguez, Raúl García, Luis García, Ever Banega, Miguel de las Cuevas, Camacho, Keko, Alex Quillo, Forlán y Sinama-Pongolle.

Manager Aguirre kindly told the press what the starting XI may be:

Leo Franco; Antonio López, Pablo, Perea, Pernía; Camacho, Raúl García, Luis García, Miguel de las Cuevas; Sinama-Pongolle y Forlán.

Still a star-studded lineup. Nice to see some youngsters get a chance to play. No Aguero again (being rested for Mallorca), and no Seitaridis, Coupet and Ujfalusi due to injury.

Much respect to the little sides, as some of my family supports a tiny club in Mexico. But poor Orihuela is going down.

-On another note, Kun Aguero received the Trofeo EFE for being the best Latin American player in La Liga. This was a good chance for people to praise el Kun and for the club president Enrique Cerezo to express his love by telling people that Kun is going nowhere. Very unecessary, since the convenience store down the street sells “Maradona and Moratti Repellant”. (By the way, Diego is the new Argentina manager. HAHAHA WHAT?!)

Hopefully more awards are to come. (Aww, isn’t he adorable? <3)

Aupa Atleti!