We’re Out Of Hurr

Adios, Champions League. We are the only team to be eliminated without losing a match in the competition. It wasn’t our year in this competition, or in any competition this year, let’s face it. We’re out of the competition whose qualification is our main goal this season. (Ok, I’ll stop saying “competition”).

The reason I’m not so shocked about this loss is because Porto had already won the first match, even if they drew 2-2. Two away goals were way too much of an advantage. I mentioned in the preview that this game would be batshit crazy, and it definitely was, even if it was more pleasing for the blue side. It was a shame that neither team could score and it was one of “those” games: the games where there’s plenty of action but there just isn’t scoring.

FC PORTO 0 – ATLETICO MADRID 0

These are the sort of games that irritate me. This game was so irritating that you could have played that stupid “I Love College” song in the background and it wouldn’t feel any different. I would have rather seen Porto seal things off legitimately 1-0 than to be eliminated in such a grueling fashion, on away goals. It stings way more.

Porto was the better team even if they didn’t score. They had more chances and some really good shots on goal. Atleti had some good chances but Porto took the honors as the rampant team of the match. Thankfully, Leo Franco is a beast and kept the goal clean. Some of those Porto shots were absolutely crazy, as you can see in the highlights vid. I don’t see how they couldn’t have scored at least once. Lisandro Lopez will be going to some major club next year so as you watch Porto, keep an eye out for this man.

Yep, the video and those two paragraphs sum up the match. I’m not really in the mood to write more about it. It all came down to luck, and we were lucky not to concede.

Kun Aguero blows his chance to show what he’s got in the big stage.

It was the first time in 12 seasons that Atlético made it into the Champions League, and they got as far as they did last time when Cristian Vieri and “El Cholo” Simeone were handling business in the rojiblanco. We were undefeated this season too goddammit. It hurts more to see Atlético get eliminated in such a fashion, but the great thing about La Liga is that the spots not taken up by Barcelona and Real Madrid are always two different teams every year.

Life without Atlético in the Champions League will be tough. There’s always next year, which I’m sure that we’ll be playing in the Champions League. Sevilla looks to be settled in 3rd place, and Villarreal seems to be our main rival for that 4th place spot. Valencia shoots themselves in the foot way too often to be a competitor. As long as we keep our streak good in the league, we’ll be back.

It didn’t seem realistic for a team as inconsistent to do too well in the competition anyway. However, it’s amazing how downhill things went for the team. Before the season began, major signings were made all for the sake of this competition: the Fiorentina captain, the Ajax starlet, the France and Lyon number one keeper, and the tall bald dude from Porto. Last night we only saw two of them on the pitch. It also doesn’t help that Aguero pulled an Ibrahimovic and was invisible during a big match like this one.

Only one team wins the Champions League so no need to be all sad, right? Right. The ride was fun but we also exit alongside other great teams. And the fans get a badass Champions League kit available for purchase, for this season only.

Oh well. Atlético matches in the Champions League were always a blast to watch, and I feel that this team has done enough to make Spain proud, when our cousins across the city couldn’t. Now the Liga representatives are Villarreal and Barcelona. I’ll just end the post here because with all the moping it’ll be reminiscent of other blogs around here.

This will be the last time in a while that I’ll be clicking on that “UEFA Champions League” check box before publishing this post. Just realized that. Ahhh!

Category: Review, UEFA Champions League