On the night of May 10, 2017, under a downpour in the Vicente Calderón in front of Real Madrid, dates the last minute of Atlético de Madrid in the semifinals of the Champions League, which today overflows the rojiblanco team, outside of the eight best in three of the last four years in a tournament in which it has not won even half of its matches since then.
It is the reality of the rojiblanco team in the competition of competitions, for the trophy that arouses both yearning and frustration, transformed into an unattainable goal in the history of the Athletic, also in the era Diego Simeone, so close three times, twice at the command of the Argentine, and so far now, always elusive.
There is an undeniable trend of Athletic on the Champions League in recent times, which transmit their sensations and which corroborate the numbers, while reaffirming itself over time, within a visible decline in the Champions of the team, either because he went too far before, or because now he does not meet expectations or, probably, because of both situations at the same time.
The point is that the Athletic, beyond approaches of all kinds and footballers, has failed in the Champions League in the last four seasons. Although the minimum goal is to pass the group stage – he did not do it in one of the four most recent editions, in 2017-18, when he won the Europa League -, more is always expected of him than he has done in each of the four most recent exercises.
He did not pass the group stage in the aforementioned 2017-18, as the third of his quartet; stayed in the round of 16 in 2018-19, with the resounding 3-0 of the Juventus Y Cristiano Ronaldo in the duel back in Turin; was knocked out in the quarterfinals by the Leipzig on the Final to Lisbon eight in 2019-20 and has fallen without nuances in the second round in 2020-21.
THE LONDON CONFIRMATION: “REALITY IS WHAT IT IS”
There is not a single question of what has been seen on the field of play that has made the Athletic of more than what he has had against him Chelsea. Conditioned by the ultra defensive -and failed- plan of the first leg played in Bucharest, outside of Wanda
Metropolitan -a circumstance that did not benefit him either-, in London he was subdued by his rival, in attack and defense, for more laps than he gave Simeone to its system and to various plans, within a vagueness that now arises with some insistence, when the first setbacks of the structured 5-3-2 of before have appeared.
From start to finish, without the chances he wanted, he was beaten in the key battle of the duel for a place in the quarterfinals: pressure. He won Chelsea that skill and he won the game. Also the precision, the circulation of the ball and the counterattack put the English team excessively above Atlético.
“This Champions it cost us from the start. Let's remember what Russia, Germany, Salzburg... It costed us. And you have to accept it. I am not lying, the reality is what it is, we have to keep improving, growing, we have a promising future and an important present. And, from the great effort we made today, we will grow. You have to learn, “he said. Simeone at the end of the crash in Stamford Bridge, while directing his gaze to the League. He is the leader by four points.
This time it was not a question of defensive approach, but of many other factors in the development of the game. More than intention, it was a matter of execution on the ground, which shows, from the constancy with which it has happened lately in these four most recent courses in the tournament, that the Athletic it is not for great challenges in Europe. It was demonstrated by the Chelsea, as he already did Bayern in the group stage, the Leipzig a year ago or the Juventus makes two.
The exception was the tie with the Liverpool last season, also in the round of 16, but his classification belongs to an extraordinary and perhaps unrepeatable moment in such circumstances and siege as was that match back in Anfield; a 'miracle' of Jan Oblak who completed Marcos Llorente.
A 10-POINT FALL IN VICTORIES
They are disappointments that are too repetitive and not punctual, when qualifying at least until the quarterfinals had been a 'norm' in the first four participations of the era. Simeone on the Champions League: in 2013-14 and 2015-16 he reached the final, in 2016-17 the semifinals and in 2014-15 in the quarterfinals.
The difference is substantial between that four-year stretch, from which he always came out first in his group in the first phase, in contrast to the four most recent courses, which was second in three of them and third in another, with the consequent difference between the power of the rival and with the doubt that arises because three of his worst scores in that phase are concentrated from 2017 to 2021.
This season, for example, was the second worst of the era Simeone, with nine points, just above the seven points that eliminated him in 2017-18. Of his eight matches of Champions in this exercise he has only beaten two, both against Salzburg. He has not won even Chelsea nor to Bayern nor to Lokomotiv: 3 defeats and 3 draws.
Between 2013-14 and 2016-17, the last time they reached the semifinals, Atlético played 49 matches in the Champions League, of which he won 27. It is 55 percent. Ten points above the winning average between 2017-18 and 2020-21: 14 of 31 games, 45 percent.
ONLY SIX WINS IN HIS LAST 15 CHAMPIONS MATCHES
He has not won even half of the games he has played in this last four-year stretch of the tournament, in which he has suffered eight draws, which is 25 percent (more or less the same as from 2013-14 to 2016- 17, which was 24 percent, with 12 tied), and nine defeats, which are 29 percent and represent the other variation from the previous stage, which was 20 percent.
And, with even more incidence in recent times: of their last 15 matches in the top European competition, the Athletic he was defeated in six, 40 percent. At the same time, he won six and called three. And from his last crashes away from Wanda
Metropolitan on the Champions League he only won three. Instead, he lost six.
He is also the least scorer in the last four years in the Champions, with 36 goals in 31 games (1.16 per match) for 72 goals in the previous 49 games (an average of 1.46), but above all he is much more vulnerable in his goal: 0.67 average of goals against per game between 2013-14 and 2016-17 to 1.06 from 2017-18 to 2020-21, much less protagonist in the tournament.
There is also the economic effect: it has passed the 78.5 million euros that it entered for its merits in the Champions League from last season or from the 85.6 million euros in 2018-19 to the 32.8 million euros in this edition, in the absence of adding the amount generated by aspects such as the television market.
Now you only have the League, with eleven days to defend his leadership, alerted by his current numbers among all competitions: two wins in his eight most recent games, with three defeats; the same ones he had suffered in his first 29 games of the current season.