Atlético faces a feat. A goal from De Bruyne in the only defensive fissure will force the rojiblanco team to win at the Wanda Metropolitano if they want to be in the semifinals of the Champions League. Those of Simeone will try to come back before their people, and although it is presented as a very complicated scenario, he has reasons not to lose hope. The ‘never stop believing’ is a lifestyle and Atlético will have to prove it again. These are several of the reasons to trust mattress options.
part of the plan
The first and great objective of Simeone passed through get out of Manchester alive. The technician is aware of the City’s power in its stadium, the strength it has against its people and the damage it does when it runs amok in attack. In addition, Guardiola’s men have a life or death match against Liverpool next Saturday. Of course, losing is a bad result, but the difference was minimal and if De Bruyne had not been so accurate or if he had a little more precision in the few counterattacks one could speak of a completely accomplished mission. From the words of Oblak or Savic at the conclusion of the duel, the feeling of the locker room slipped: It is not the best scenario or score, but the team is fully involved in the tie. And leaving Atlético alive can be very expensive.
The atmosphere of the Wanda Metropolitano
Atlético will play the pass against their people. AND It will be one of the great matches in the history of the Wanda Metropolitano and the most decisive in the Champions League with Atlético on the pitch (the stadium hosted the final between Liverpool and Tottenham in 2018) since its inauguration. The rojiblanca fans are eager for matches like this. The last time the quarterfinals were reached was in 2020 and the tie was played in Lisbon in a single match against Leipzig and without an audience in the stands. The previous one was at the Vicente Calderón. The Wanda Metropolitano will present a packed house and people will turn to the team, which plays with one more gear on nights like this. The stadium has already carried its players against Manchester United and will now be a major player against City. Atlético will need to score and be more courageous, but with their people in the stands they are always stronger.
Carrasco, more biting
Simeone can recover troops for that final of the Wanda Metropolitano. The mattress team was planted with five warned players who, in the event of seeing a yellow card, would miss the duel in the Atlético fiefdom. João Félix, Llorente, Kondogbia and Reinildo were able to avoid the warning despite being starters, Suárez did not have minutes due to a technical decision and Herrera due to injury, so Atlético will not have any sanctioned in the second leg. Not so Manchester City, who lost Gabriel Jesús due to his protests. and simeone could recover the Mexican and Giménez if they recover in time. Also to a Carrasco who he has missed the last three games in the competition due to his direct red card against Porto. The Belgian is a key player against this type of team due to his overflow ability, speed on the counter and individual offensive talent. Having Carrasco is always great news for Cholo despite the fact that these last few games have not seen his best form.
The Simeon factor
It will not be the first time that Simeone’s Atlético needs to come back to overcome a Champions League tie. On two of the three occasions that he was defeated in the first leg playing away, he managed to get through the round before his people at the Vicente Calderón. The first of them, against Bayer Leverkusen. The 1-0 first leg in the round of 16 of the 2014-15 season forced them to work hard in the second leg. A goal from Mario Suárez equalized the score and the penalty shootout had a red-and-white flavor in Oblak’s first big night as an athletic goalkeeper. The most epic would come a season later, against the Barcelona of Messi, Suárez and Neymar to overcome some unforgettable quarterfinals. In the first leg, Torres had put Atlético ahead before seeing a red card that forced the rojiblancos to play almost an hour with one man less. A double by Suárez turned the scoreboard around. But on the way back the Vicente Calderón passed sentence. Two goals from Griezmann took Atlético to the semi-finals on a night that you will want to emulate against City.
Change of regulation
Since this year, there is a change in the regulations in the Champions League that conditions all the qualifiers. Away goals have lost that enormous differential value that they had in previous seasonsso Atlético starts with a goal behind without worrying so much about a scenario where a goal is conceded against Manchester City’s offensive torrent. If in previous years a bit of English would have been a huge slab, forcing them to score three goals to come back, from this course a 2-1 has the same value as 1-0 and so on. Also in the face of a hypothetical extension, it would not be necessary to play 30 minutes with the fear of conceding such a definitive goal.