Atlético does not give up in their fight to get the coveted Champions. Since Simeone's arrival, he has established himself in the highest European competition twice reaching the final (2014 and 2016), another season the semifinal (2017), falling once in the quarters (2015), last season in the eighths and the previous season in the group stage (He would end up winning the Europa League). Now, three years later, he returns to the quarters, but in an atypical edition, with neutral headquarters and a single match.
And it will be a completely different Atlético to the one that in 2017 managed to set foot in the semifinals. Of course, it will have something in common with the current one, since, in addition to the desire to get the dream, Atleti faces the tie as a favorite, as happened that year against Leicester. If previously it had been Barcelona on two occasions and Real Madrid the rivals in quarters, in 2017 it was the English team, which had given a year earlier the great surprise in European football rising with the Premier League, the team that stood in the way of the final.
Atlético overcame the tie thanks to his 1-0 victory at Vicente Calderón with Griezmann's penalty kick, in which it was the penultimate European match of the old rojiblanco fief, and the certification of the pass with the tie to one in the return both of Saúl by. Between that Atlético and the current one only three years have passed, but 10 of the 18 summoned in those matches are no longer in the squad and six of the eleven Calderón holders have left the club. Cholo chose an alignment made up of Oblak; Juanfran, Savic, Godín, Filipe Luis; Gabi, Saúl, Koke, Carrasco; Griezmann and Torres of which only Oblak, Savic, Saúl, Koke and Carrasco, with a round trip to China in between, are still on the roster, although all five point to headlines against Leipzig.
On that occasion they started the game from the bench Giménez, Thomas and Correa, three that are still active in the squad and where the Uruguayan and Argentine also seem to be starting against the Germans, while the Ghanaian still recovers from a micro-break suffered in the match against Real Sociedad and if available, you are expected as a substitute. The rest of the list were Moreira, Lucas, Cerci and Gaitán. On the return eleven was almost the same, with Giménez entering through Torres to play as a midfielder.
Gabi, Lucas, Koke, Saúl, Torres and Godín celebrate the '8' goal against Leicester.
Darren Staples (REUTERS)
Nine additions this season
Since then, and with the frustration experienced after falling in the subsequent semifinals against Real Madrid (global of 4-2), Atlético have been rebuilding their squad to continue competing to try to end up getting the title. Players like Torres and Gabi said goodbye in 2018 after winning the Europa League, But it was last summer that the greatest transfer of staff was experienced. Six fundamental losses (Juanfran, Godín, Lucas, Filipe, Rodrigo and Griezmann) with a multitude of new faces (Trippier, Felipe, Hermoso, Lodi, Herrera, Llorente, João Félix, Carrasco and Saponjic) for a year of transition in the League. Atlético linked multiple draws that led them to find the break in sixth place, although finishing third with the good restart of the competition, but which has not affected mattress options in the Champions League.
If finishing second in a group with Juventus involved the toughest draw in eighths, with the Liverpool ball scaring anyone, Atlético's ability to eliminate the reigning champion by pulling the resistance that has so characterized the Cholo team despite all the rookies in its scheme has returned the illusion to the final. The draw in quarters a priori has been benevolent and in a hypothetical semifinals the winner of the tie would wait between Atalanta and PSG, leaving names such as Bayern, Real Madrid or City, Barcelona and Juventus, but in Atlético there are only eyes for Leipzig.
A very new Atleti, who has been assembling with the passing of the matches, but who maintains bastions in the locker room as Koke, Oblak, Giménez, Saúl, Savic, Diego Costa … They accumulate extensive experience in these matches and especially a Simeone on the bench who wants to complete the transition of his new squad into another work of competitive engineering to try to finally raise the desired Champions.