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Diego Simeone's Building Atletico Madrid's Champions League Campaign On Closing Up Shop
Diego Simeone's building an attack on the Champions League crown through his brilliant defensive options.
By David Cartlidge (@davidjaca)
Despite his insistence to the contrary, Diego Simeone has already exorcised some demons in the Champions League this year. The return to the Estadio De Luz in December, scene of Atletico Madrid’s heart wrenching Champions League final loss to Real Madrid in the 2014 final, was a mental block hurdled by Simeone’s men.
"That's life, sometimes in life you have to walk through the places where things happen,” said Simeone ahead of facing Benfica. “Sometimes bad and good things happen in the same place. We were happy to play the final, and sad to lose it.”
But as always with ‘Cholo’, there was a bigger picture. His playing down of the return to Lisbon for the first time since the loss to Carlo Ancelotti’s side was meant to have ramifications throughout the squad. That it would only be one game, that ahead bigger challenges would be presented.
Tonight, against PSV Eindhoven, is one of them.
Simeone has what he believes, is the squad to win the Champions League. More so than last season. Then, he had players he didn’t request and parts making up the squad that were not entirely convincing. This time around, there is a feeling Atleti has the right balance. This, in spite of Jackson Martinez’s high profile sale to China and the increasing uncertainty over Atleti’s attacking output which has seen them score just 35 times in the league this season.
It’s at the other end where Simeone’s belief stems from, that in a competition such as the Champions League played within such fine margins, the defence can lead them to success. With 23 clean sheets from 37 games in total, 15 of those coming in 25 Liga games, it’s not surprising that this could be an area Atleti choose to exploit in the Champions League. Indeed, in this very competition Atleti have kept 11 clean sheets in their last 15 games.
The backline is built upon familiarity, understanding and a ferocious desire to stall any opponent. Juanfran remains a dependable presence at right-back, at even offering considerable influence going forward. The centre back pairing made in Uruguay of Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez meanwhile is a mix of experience and youth, but with a similar strong, tough approach to their task. Filipe Luis meanwhile is close to recapturing the level that made Chelsea shell out for his services.
In goal, Jan Oblak has been nothing short of a sensation. 11 goals shipped in 25 Liga games means he’s on track to break the 93/94 record set by Paco Liano of just 18 goals conceded from 38 games. His contract extension earlier this month was a justified reward.
Of course, the attack remains important. Without wishing to dumb it down, goals win games. Despite the sale of Jackson, there is still enough in the ranks to squeeze through across the course of these two legged ties. Antoine Griezmann is experiencing something of a rare barren spell having not scored in five Liga games, and equally concerning is that he hasn’t had a shot on target in three of them.
"When I was scoring I said then that goals come in runs, there are good moments and bad moments," said the Frenchman, almost sounding like a clone of the man sitting next to him in the press room, his coach.
Luciano Vietto meanwhile has shown glimpses of the talent that made Atleti pay 20m for his services, but overall his adaptation is taking longer than imagined. Then there is Fernando Torres. The darling of Atleti’s support has two in his last three games but prior to that went 6 months without a goal as he sought out his 100th in the red and white of his team since birth.
More danger might well come from supporting pair of Angel Correa and Yannick Ferreira Carrasco, the latter of whom will miss this first-leg with PSV. Both provide the ingenuity behind the attack that Atleti often lack. The running, the creative spark, the unpredictability in a side very stuck to task.
Admittedly this will all hardly send shivers through Europe’s elite, but there is that hope the attack might finish the season strongly. If that does occur, it could be a game changer. With La Liga seemingly beyond them, despite an insistence the fight will be kept up, Simeone’s private obsession with the Champions League could be satisfied.
It does however, look likely that Atleti’s assault this year may well be built on defence, but they wouldn’t be the first to do so. Nor would they be the first to succeed.