One team that will certainly be hoping that the football season is not abandoned and thus there being no Champions League is Atletico Madrid. The team led by the charismatic Diego Simeone played one of the very final competitive games when the Coronavirus struck and it was an important one. A great game that saw Atletico knock out the reigning champions Liverpool.
That victory, when the club were behind in the tie also took place at Anfield in a stunning extra time comeback that saw Atletico win the game 3-2. This against a Liverpool side who were the champions and have also dominated English football this season, 25 points clear at the top of the Premier League, unbeaten at Anfield in the league and only having lost one game. Everyone thought that Atletico were going to be knocked out that night, but the team showed a spirit by a foreign team on English turf not seen perhaps since Inter Milan visited Chelsea on their way to winning the Champions League themselves in 2010.
With Atletico through to the quarter finals and gaining every clubs respect in knocking out the champions, the onus was on Atletico, just how far could they go? Could they win the competition they so desperately want? Could 2020 finally be the year?
In recent years Atletico have reached 2 Champions League finals. Both times in 2014 and 2016 losing to their city rivals Real Madrid. Talk about adding salt to the wounds. And on both times Atletico were not beaten in 90 minutes. In one final they collapsed in extra time and in the other were beaten on penalties. It would be the 2014 final that would feel soul crushing for the club who were still coached by Simeone. After leading 1-0 they looked to have won it with just a couple of minutes of injury time left until Sergio Ramos sprung up from a corner and headed in the equaliser. Sheer joy for him and Real, sheer heartbreak for everyone associated with Atletico.
Of course it hasn’t just been in recent times that Atletico have challenged for Europe’s greatest prize. We could go as far back as 1974 when they reached the final for the first time. This time they were up against the mighty Bayern Munich who were on their way to winning 3 European Cups in a row and beat Atletico 4-0 in the final.
Atletico are a very good team, although them winning the Champions League would still feel like a surprise in many respects, simply because they have never won the competition. Not many ‘new teams’ have been able to win the competition. In fact since its inception for the 1992/93 season there has only been three teams who have won the competition for the first time. Marseille in 1993, Borussia Dortmund in 1997 and Chelsea in 2012.
One just felt that 2020 could have Atletico’s name on it. After all beating Liverpool is a huge and Real Madrid currently look like they could be exiting the competition at the hands of Manchester City, with the return leg yet to be played.
The question is will the competition return? Let’s hope so, and there does seem to be a window in June where football could return properly, we will just have to see how events play themselves out over the next few weeks.
To leave a comment, you must be logged into www.eurofantasyleague.com