Luis Fabiano’s Kick to Our Mental Groin

By: Al | September 29th, 2008

Atlético Madrid 0 – Sevilla 1

Sevilla deserved to win. Before this match we were flying high like a bird, and the Sevilla Slingshot of Doom™ just shot us down for the time being.

Both teams were shutting down each other’s attacks pretty well. Agüero and Sinama were marked well and of course, couldn’t score. Sevilla’s Capel posed a huge threat with his clean touches and fast runs down the field. Luis Fabiano was the real danger, though. His first goal was denied and he scored the free kick that brought us down. The score should’ve been 0-2.

The second half was a tad bit more frustrating as we were having trouble creating chances and catching up with the Sevilla midfielders, which was the purpose of our defensive subs.

We deserved a draw as we fought just as hard as Sevilla did. But the score never lies; Sevilla was the better team and the 3 points are rightfully theirs.

We miss Maniche and Simao dearly. The midfield looked boring and uncreative. There was no spark or effectiveness.

The loss is embarrassing, considering we were able to do the double over them last season. But they wanted the 3 points and fought harder than we did. It’s sad that we lost at home, but we lost to an undefeated team, so we should still hold our heads up high.

Sinama-Pongolle’s Pichichi run has come to an end. Don’t get me wrong; he’ll still be scoring goals, but Forlan returns in about 2 weeks so his playing time will gradually diminish, and he’ll end up being more of a super sub than a starter. Other dynamic players in other corners of La Liga such as David Villa will also be scoring by the buckets, so Agüero looks to be more likely to compete in his place.

We now sit in 7th place on the Liga standings. A dangerous position considering we could’ve done much better against Valladolid and Sevilla. Which leads me to the question:

Why was it important to have won the match?

The October fixture list explains why:

October 1: Atlético vs. Marseille
October 4: Barcelona vs. Atlético
October 19: Atlético vs. Real Madrid
October 22: Atlético vs. Liverpool
October 26: Villareal vs. Atlético

Are you freakin’ kidding me? Our next La Liga fixture is away to Barcelona? If we don’t defeat Marseille on Wednesday, our morale will be significantly lower. In order to prevent a domino effect of bad results, we must win every match.

Can it be done?

What does this mean for us? It’s still early in the season. If October ends up being a disaster, it’ll be very hard to stay or climb up to the Europa League spots (uggh I liked “UEFA Cup” better). Our key to success next month will be confidence. We have a squad more than capable of defeating any team in the world, but we must know and believe that we are able to win anything.

And here’s a picture of the Formula car presented during the half-time break. It’s driver, Andy Soucek, is an Atleti fan.