While awaiting rival in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, there is no higher priority objective for
Atlético de Madrid
that the classification for the next edition of the maximum European tournament, the indispensable economic engine in the leap to the top of the team led by Diego Simeone, now facing eleven days and an unknown pressure by scopezar one of the first four positions of The league Santander.
In each of the seven previous full courses of the Argentine coach at the head of the rojiblanco team – the seven within the podium of the table (he was once champion, two second and four third) -, he had already secured, or almost, his pass to Champions at this stage of the campaign, with a regularity and solvency that he has not yet demonstrated this course and that he will need from now on to tie a goal that is inescapable for him.
Atlético eliminated Liverpool at Anfield
Last year he did not move from the top four positions in 34 of the 38 days, including all since the tenth chapter of the tournament; makes two (2017-18) at 35; makes three (2016-17) in 31; makes four (2015-16) at 34; five years ago (2014-15), at 33; makes six (in 2013-14) across the League, of which he was champion; and seven years ago, in 2012-13, in 37 of the 38. And in no stretch of that route did it go down from there beyond day 12 of the championship.
Sports and financially it is necessary for the rojiblanco team to remain unchanged in the most dazzling competition on the planet, which has contributed to the era Simeone 419.8 million euros in revenue (50 million in 2013-14; 43.7 in 2014-15; 69.7 in 2015-16; 60.6 in 2016-17; 31.7 in 2017-18; 85, 6 in 2018-19; and 78.5 so far in the current course), according to official data from the UEFA, not counting the tickets, subscriptions or sponsorships that the team generates when playing the tournament of continental soccer tournaments.
But, to this day, his classification for next year's edition is in the air. He has no certainty that it will be his at the end of the League. On Sunday, June 14 at 2:00 p.m., when it is his re-release against Athletic Club in San Mamés, the Athletic He will resume the championship between the frustration of being left out of the title fight too soon, the need to at least be fourth, the doubts, the persistent ups and downs this season and a disturbing sixth place with 45 points.
Unreachable the Barcelona (58 points) -leader- and the Real Madrid (56) -second-, still has ahead also the Seville, two points above the Athletic and in the third position; to Real society, fourth, and al Getafe, fifth, both with a point of income on the rojiblanco team, which also feels the stalking of Valencia behind, seventh to three points.
He is one of the five candidates for the two positions that remain to be resolved in the next Champions League in a margin of only five points and with eleven days to play. For him, there are five at home and six outside his territory of the Metropolitan Wanda; the undoubted handicap by which the Athletic, first, it has not competed for the top of the League and, second, it has not yet secured the Champions League: He has only won three of his thirteen outings in this championship. He has added 16 of 36 points.
NO POSSIBILITY OF FAILURE
In tow, each match assumes tremendous significance. The margin of error is minimal. He has nine finals ahead (Athletic, Osasuna, Levante, Barcelona and Celta at home and Valladolid, Alavés, Mallorca and Betis as a local) and, if everything continues as tight as it has been so far, two final matches in the last two days, when visiting the Getafe, today fifth, and receive the Real society, today fourth, in the final appointment of the season.
And with the enigma of how much relevance the public has in its results as a local or as a visitor, because everything will be played behind closed doors, with the special impact it has in a stadium with the fame of Metropolitan Wanda. “You have seen what a stadium can do when it is behind its team. The public is not here to watch sensational football, but to see a good result, “he said. Jurgen
Klopp, the technician of the Liverpool, last February after losing 1-0 in that field in the Champions League.
That tie relaunched in every way the Athletic, whose last game before the break -on March 11- was the feat he achieved in Anfield, when he eliminated the champion of Europe sustained by the stops of a fantastic Jan Oblak, vital in the ‘miracle’ of triumph, and launched by two blows of Marcos Llorente and the 2-3 of Alvaro
Morata in overtime.
It also returns to the competition rearmed in terms of troops. Injuries have been a problem all year long. If the sanctions are added, only in one of the 38 official matches this season has the Simeone of your entire team, precisely in Anfield, although it really wasn't quite like that, since Morata He had some discomfort that only allowed him to play the final stretch of the clash against the British team.
Recovered Diego Costa Since mid-February, after remaining 16 games on leave since November due to a cervical disc hernia operation, Atlético no longer has any footballer affected by a long-term illness, although they will have at least one loss on their return to competition. in San Mamés: Joao Félix He is sanctioned by five yellows, apart from recovering from a sprained left knee.
And from Portuguese a lot is expected from here at the end of the season. There is no doubt about his talent, but he needs more of him. Athletic in full race to reach the Champions League: the inescapable classification through The league Santander and the coveted title of the highest European competition. That obsession resumes on June 14 in San Mamés.