The reasons why it can be the Atlético Champions League

He Athletic comes back in about Champions quarterfinals, something that before of the arrival of Simeone it was practically a unreachable illusion and now it has become almost routine, with his fourth appearance in this round since 2014. Twice he reached the final, another time the semifinals and in 2015 he stayed on the road in the quarters themselves.

However, the dream of every athletic is that this 2020 is the year of consecration. A different course, complicated by extra-sports issues carried by the global pandemic of the coronavirus and in sporting aspects by transitioning a squad with chevrons in the locker room (Juanfran, Godín, Filipe, Griezmann, Lucas …) to one with eight new faces, plus Carrasco's return in January two years after his departure. But, since the Anfield game, where Atlético left Liverpool on the road, current champion of the tournament, the delusions they have shot and there are several reasons that make the rojiblanco team a full candidate to finally take the title.

State of form

Atlético has lived a season of ups and downs. A brilliant start to the League, with three consecutive victories that led him to the lead, a single goal in the following five days, multiple draws … until say goodbye to the title definitively on February 1, still on day 22. The team, plagued by casualties (Trippier, Arias, Giménez, Koke, João Félix, Diego Costa, Herrera …) fell at the Santiago Bernabéu and moved further away from LaLiga's head. However, that would be Atlético's last loss this season. Since then 11 wins and seven draws have come. 18 games without knowing defeat and 18 matches scoring, one of the tasks that had caused Atlético the most difficulties. If just before the break came victory at Anfield (2-3), then a faster, more vertical, dangerous and solid Atleti has been seen behind. The team ensured participation in the next Champions League, climbing from sixth place to third and showing solvency at the Camp Nou, San Mamés, Coliseum Alfonso Pérez…

Frame side

“To win the Champions League you have to defeat the best.” It is one of the great lies among the popular sayings of soccer. To win the Champions, you have to beat the rivals that touch you and, a priori and without detracting from anyone, the side of Atlético's team is always preferred over the opposite. Among the four classified for quarters on the mattress side there are no Champions of the Champions, while in the other profile, where the eighths have to be decided, they are Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Juventus of a Christian who has established himself as the athletic black beast in Champions, Bayern …

While it is true that the Atlético runs away from all favoritism, and has left epic qualifying rounds against Liverpool, Barcelona, ​​Bayern … in principle he has been lucky in the draw. The rival in quarters is a Leipzig without any experience in this round and who has lost Timo Werner, its best player and top scorer who has signed for Chelsea. The German team striker finished the course with 34 goals and will watch the match from London. In the case of overcoming the fourths, Atalanta would wait in the semifinals, who has surprised everyone by his scoring ability but does not have such a powerful squad or PSG, that he has not competed regularly since March and that when he has done it again in recent weeks he has been suffering mishaps in key players like Mbappé or Verratti, in addition to saying goodbye to Cavani.

Own names

If Atlético arrives at the appointment at the best moment of the season, or so it was two weeks ago when the League brought the curtain, it is because of the step forward of several players after the break. The most notable, Marcos Llorente and Yannick Carrasco. The first in a brutal way and in a previously unexplored position. Signed as a pivot from Real Madrid, the '14' has found its place up front. Llorente left his masterpiece with a double at Anfield, but, what seemed an extraordinary and timely event, has become a trend upstairs. He devised with Simeone a total acclimatization to the position and since the competition returned, the forward has been seen in fashion. It has gone from playing 30.9% of the minutes in the league before the break to 64.8%, resting occasionally from the accumulation of parties. Two goals, four assists and a penalty caused with a plethora of physical condition, unstoppable in the race, are their baggage in those last 11 days.

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Although its explosion has been less, also Carrasco has totally changed his situation since the break. He has taken a place in the starting lineup thanks to his imbalance, overflow, speed and work. Atlético are already working to extend the loan from the Chinese Dalian Yifang and his best game left him at the Camp Nou, causing two penalties and being unstoppable for the Blaugrana rear. Other players like Giménez, Savic, Koke or Diego Costa They also returned from the break in great shape. The constant rotation and the appearance of more players with the most distributed minutes led to good minutes of Arias, Herrera or Vitolo, which have shown that they can be accommodated.

Tournament format

It will be a Champions completely atypical. To a party, in neutral headquarters and with the quarters, semifinals and final concentrated in ten days. Something that Atlético harms because they cannot count on their fans, one of the most supportive in the world, but it can also be beneficial. They are one of the roughest and most complicated teams face-to-face, with Simeone posing each match as if it were a war. Bayern, Chelsea, Barcelona, ​​Milan and even Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey or European Super Cup have succumbed to Atlético. Matches to a letter are decided by details and there the rojiblanco team is a toothache. In addition, the new format has another key element that after the break has been very useful for Cholo. The five changes have given more variations from the bench to change the games, and there Atleti has been able to boast a wardrobe.

If Koke, Saúl, Carrasco, Llorente and Costa seem fixed, with a post to debate between Herrera and Correa according to the first tests, on the bench would be the Mexican or the Argentine, João Félix, Morata, Vitolo, Lemar, Thomas in the case of arriving apt … and in defense Trippier or Arias, Felipe and Hermoso. Completely reliable variants to vary the script of an encounter and where the rojiblanco coaching staff has proven to handle itself very well. UEFA has also cleared the yellow card load, so Saúl, Morata and Correa are no longer warned. A different year, with an extra-motivated team in the competition, since the desire for the Champions League is enormous and where it is dreamed that this time it could be the definitive one.