The Yellow Submarine and Other News

By: Al | October 24th, 2008

Aguirre is safe. We’re on a bit of a high from the glorious draw against Liverpool (how can a draw be considered glorious?), so what’s next?

Villarreal vs. Atlético Madrid

That’s what.

Now that Champions League hopes are being rekindled and the quasi celebrations are ending, it’s time to focus on the league. The team has often said that La Liga is the priority over everything else. However much the team wants to improve in La Liga, there’s a fixture at Villarreal that we must get past before starting to get hopeful.

Diego Forlán believes that it’s finally time to change things around and start snatching some points.

“The league is very long and there are still many games to play, we have to keep adding points from Sunday to Sunday. We are the first to admit that we are not playing good games but we have to continue ahead.”

“The team is in good spirit after the draw with Liverpool and now is the time to turn the page after the defeats,”

Glad you got the hint, Diego.

On a side note, the club has sacked physiotherapist Sebastián Truyols because he asked Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas to give him his jersey after the match. It’s unsure if this was the exact reason that he was fired, but the frequency of player injuries has often been questioned and this incident might have been the action that sealed the deal. You don’t ask Real Madrid’s keeper for his jersey after they crushed your employer in the city’s most important derby. Idiot.

Our captain Maxi Rodriguez will return for the match from injury. We will be without Gregory Coupet and Tomas Ujfalusi who are injured, and Luis Perea who got a red card during the derby on Saturday. Kun Aguero will probably play as a sub on Sunday, and that’s also an “ehh” decision. The boy can be the real difference, but he’s not a machine and can’t and shouldn’t play absolutely every game.

Club president Enrique Cerezo has slammed shut all speculation that manager Javier Aguirre will be sacked whether we win or lose at Villarreal.

“No matter what happens against Villarreal, Javier Aguirre will continue to be the coach of Atlético Madrid.”

“We want to remain amongst the top three in the the league and losing against Villarreal would be a big blow because we would fall even further behind the group ahead. However, we are only on match eight and there are still many games to play.”

He understands how difficult the fixtures have been so far and although we could’ve done a bit better, no need to fire the man that got us this far and is heading the team into a good direction in Europe.

To top things off, Aguirre will be awarded the “Puma Premier Golden Boot” (link in Spanish) for his work towards Atlético’s successful 07-08 season. Your arse stays, Vasco. Phew.

Villarreal

Villarreal is currently in 3rd place in La Liga, with 5 wins and two draws. It is having a great start to the season, and is also a Champions League contender that defeated AaB Aalborg 6-3 on Tuesday.

Villarreal was one of our main rivals last season, as both teams were aspiring to win La Liga and were direct competition. Last season, they defeated us 3-4 at home (what an unusual score line) and 3-0 at their stadium, so the ass-handing was provided by them. It placed 2nd in La Liga last year, and is determined to continue qualifying for the Champions League after a shaky season without Riquelme in 06/07.

Villarreal will welcome us with 22,000 yellow balloons (link in Spanish). That’s right, the Villarreal peñas have arranged this in order to intimidate us at their stadium. The club has also requested that everyone wear their yellow as well (don’t they always?) in their attempt to make the stadium look like a pisser from the sky. Nyuck nyuck….

Where do I begin describing Villarreal’s danger men? They have the Euro winning trio of Capdevila, Cazorla, and Marcos Senna within their ranks. In the attack, they have Italian-American wonder Guiseppe Rossi, Turkish striker Nihat (their top scorer last season with 18 goals), trickster Mexican-Argentine Guillermo Franco, and Joseba Llorente who is fresh off of a hat trick from Aalborg. Anybody that saw their match against Aalborg are well aware of how explosive this side is.

This will be another return home for Diego Forlán, who spent three years at Villarreal, and was a member of the squad that had a glorious run to the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2006.

Villarreal celebrates a goal, no more of this!

Hopeful prediction: 1-1. Villarreal is an amazing team, and is on a hot streak that doesn’t look like it’ll end soon. We will be boasting an almost-full squad and are ready to fight. To defeat a team that is (currently) the quality of Real Madrid and Barcelona will be tough, but our players will have more than enough desire to get points. Hell, a 0-0 would be enough. Who knows though, this match will probably be as difficult as the one against Barcelona, and if we’re not prepared, then it’s instant death.

Probable score: 4-1. Ouch.

See you guys Sunday.

Aupa Atleti!