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Champions League thread 2013/14

Huddy said:
A decent side finishing around 5/6th on average. Simeone has taken them to the next level over the time he has been there, he's managed to get some average players to up their level and he's done well to not let some major player departures disrupt the side, plus he's also been fortunate to have had access to some great youth players coming through the academy.
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Ok, thanks.

Very, very hard to judge these things isn't it? Sometimes a coach just kinda walks into a perfect storm of good luck. In fact, I'd say that's probably a more common explanation for a sudden uptick in a team's performance than a coach suddenly emerging as a genius. (No judgement on DS there because I don't know which is the case with AM).
 
Turned into a great game that.

Well done Atletico and well done Simeone.

What a season for them... What an achievement just to get to where they are now. Hope they make it, I really do.
 
AM have played the way the goons try to but fail. Pass and move in numbers, always looking for the ball (as the goons do) but then defend as a unit putting your body on the line (how the goons fail). I love it and I wish we can find the players to put in the same commitment and technique. Brilliant just brilliant!

How good was the 'Chelsea keeper' though !!! :D
 
Will Jose survive this? Will Roman put up with a trophy-less season?

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Kingdawson said:
Simeone is a pretty damn good manager.

He played with 4 cm's at home lat week (Gabi, Garcia, Koke, Suarez) and all are defensive minded although two have some ability going forward. He did this to keep a clean sheet....that was the only objective they had....to keep a clean sheet at home because they were so confident they would score at the Bridge.

Fast forward 1 week and they switch to an attacking 3 ...away in a CL semi final. No wonder they celebrated last week like they were ecstatic about the result. A great game plan.
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"Koke has some ability going forward" - early candidate for understatement of the year?

Seems to me that all the Atletico players are very good on the ball. Although I suppose you could say that they're all defensive minded, including their strikers, they certainly all work their socks off to defend as a really well organized unit.

I think they wanted to score at home. They were alright with a 0-0 too, but I don't think that was what they were playing for.
 
chancer said:
Ok, thanks.

Very, very hard to judge these things isn't it? Sometimes a coach just kinda walks into a perfect storm of good luck. In fact, I'd say that's probably a more common explanation for a sudden uptick in a team's performance than a coach suddenly emerging as a genius. (No judgement on DS there because I don't know which is the case with AM).
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Simeone won the league for the first time in 23 years with Estudiantes and then went and won the league again at River plate.

He's won a trophy each season he's been at Atletico so far and is now 3 wins away from finishing perhaps the most unlikely season I can ever remember in my own life.

I'm not sure what the perfect storm of Atletico would be. He hasn't walked into a team which has produced an incredible generation of young talent. ala Barcelona He hasn't walked into a team with an incredible squad of players that he just had to re-invigorate. He hasn't walked into a league where the top teams are falling apart. He hasn't walked into a team where he's been able to keep all of his best players.

He's made good purchases. He's improved many of the players that were already there. And he's used a core of players, made that core incredibly hard working and hard to beat and has achieved incredible results with them.

Now perhaps this doesn't translate to success into other clubs, especially ones where he can't speak Spanish (as motivation seems to be a huge part of his success so far) but his success is not to be sniffed at by any means. He's done an absolutely incredible job.
 
Could cracks in the relationship between Hazard and Mourinho be appearing:

http://www.theguardian.com/football...-frustrated-chelsea-atletico-champions-league

A disappointed Eden Hazard has admitted Chelsea's lacklustre second half display was to blame after Jose Mourinho's side crashed out of the Champions League following the 3-1 defeat to Atlético Madrid.

The Belgium forward made his first appearance since limping off in the second leg of the quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain on 8 April but was unable to inspire his side to victory despite an early strike from Fernando Torres. Goals from Adrian Lopez, Diego Costa and Arda Turan ensured Atletico set up an all-Madrid final in Lisbon next month to leave Hazard feeling frustrated.

"I don't know what we lacked," he told French TV station beIN Sport.

"After scoring, we had the game in our hands. Maybe they wanted it more than we did. It was an intense game, beautiful to watch with opportunities.

"I'm sad but logic has been respected because they deserved to qualify. Chelsea is not made to play football. We're good on the counter, a little bit like Real against Bayern.

"We did it well tonight since we scored. But their goal hurt us before the break. We failed to make the difference in the second half. Often, I'm asked to do it all by myself and it's not easy. It was a complicated game. It will be a lesson for us regarding next year."

The former Chelsea midfielder Tiago consoled a tearful John Terry at the final whistle but the Portuguese will now have the opportunity to win a La Liga and Champions League double.

"It's a dream, we have a great spirit, we are a great team, we all work together, now we are in the final in Lisbon, the dreams can be true," he said.

"It is not easy to play here, we know that. But we knew Chelsea had to play more. We knew we are very good away from home. After our goal Chelsea went a bit down, we got confident and now we are there.

"We know Real Madrid are a fantastic team with great players. They can win the game in any action but we are there. Last year we won the Cup in their stadium so we are confident."

:-k
 
Well done to Atletico Madrid for beating Chelsea and advancing to the CL Final. Never thought they would manage to overcome Chelsea. Despite not having many big name players, they have done exceptionally well to have come this far. But their mission is not complete. All their hard work will be meaningless if they don't go on to win the CL by beating their city rivals and power-greedy Real Madrid.

Hope Atletico will follow the examples of Barcelona. Since 2007/08, CL have been won by either Barcelona or the teams that knock out Barcelona (Bayern, Chelsea, Inter, ManU). Barcelona have set a high benchmark for others to follow in recent years. So, after knocking out Barcelona in the Quarter Finals, Atletico is duty bound to make Barcelona's flag flying high.
 
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