Without a global star like Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, he beats Real Madrid and Barcelona, the two most popular clubs in Spanish football by winning the league. Atletico was also about to beat Real Madrid in his first final of the Champions League since 1974. Finished wilting in overtime (Real Madrid won 4-1 and won their tenth European title that day).
Saturday, Atletico will face Real Madrid in the final of the Champions League, but this time not as a guest will surprise and unexpected, although its rival neighbor-and have much more money and prestige.
Paolo Futre, who was captain of Atletico, said: "I think it was a surprise to see how Atletico reached the final two years ago, but do not think anyone who has followed the team since then can doubt that Atletico has a place among the best teams in Europe. " He added: "There are no words to describe what has been done to transform Simeone Atletico" on the team coach, Argentine Diego Simeone.
Since he became coach five years ago, Simeone has rebuilt the team within the limits of a budget that falls short when compared with those of Real Madrid or other European clubs; a budget that forced Atletico to sell their best players at the end of each season.
Fabio Coentrao Real Madrid surrounded by Tiago and Juanfran from Atletico Madrid in the final of the Champions League played in Lisbon in 2014. Credit Laurence Griffiths / Getty Images
In 2014, shortly after losing the final of the Champions League, three of the pillars of -the team goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, defender Filipe Luis and striker Diego Costa, they left the team and went to Chelsea. (Courtois was a temporary loan from Atletico blues, Luis returned to Madrid after a season in London). Another pillar of the team, Arda Turan, was sold for Barcelona last summer, or at least were their rights.
Their replacements have adapted easily to the team and Simeone counterattacking style. During the period of this coach, the Atletico defense has become a castle: This league has received only 18 goals in 38 matches and has won half the games without rivals have managed to throw them a goal. Simeone has also been able to rely on a tandem Antoine Griezmann front formed by -a French striker who arrived from the Royal Society- and Fernando Torres, who returned last Atletico, the team of his childhood year after a long journey England and Italy.
Both are expected to lead Atletico in full power during the final of the Champions League in Milan, unlike happened in Lisbon two years ago, when Simeone bet, with little success, for Costa injured. He had torn a tendon in the last league game against Barcelona.
Although Costa managed to leave lineup, nine minutes was limping. Simeone had no choice but to make one of your changes to replace the price of sacrificing one of the three pairs of fresh legs he had for that match that Real Madrid won the three goals he scored in the second half of extra time .
"Atletico reached that final in Lisbon with an exhausted and with some low of importance, after a huge battle for the league team," said Adelard Rodriguez Sanchez, who played 511 games in 17 seasons with Atletico before retiring, all a record. "This season has been very hard again, but the team has reached the final in good shape."
On the way to Milan, Atletico eliminated two recent winners of the Champions League, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. And after losing the final of the Champions League two years ago, Atletico has taken the lead to Real Madrid by winning five games and drawing four of their last ten games. The only defeat in the Madrid derby was last year, and again in the Champions League, when Real Madrid managed to eliminate Simeone team in the quarterfinals.
Under the leadership of new coach Zinedine Zidane, Real Madrid reached the final after a surprising but late threat to the supremacy of Barcelona in the final of the league. They lost the title by a single point in the final game. The attacking trio of Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Gale, is one of the most complex challenges that has faced the defense mounted by Simeone. The three have scored 98 goals.
Futre Saturday's game qualifies as "an encounter with the same chance of victory for two teams that are well known but could not play very differently than they do." Zidane has agreed with that view. During a press conference on Tuesday he smiled when he left the issue of pressure that is used before big games.
Simeone, in the center, trained with players from Atletico Madrid last week. Credit Juan Carlos Hidalgo / European Pressphoto Agency
"I've been a player and I've felt that pressure, I feel perhaps more intensely as a coach, but I like it, even if it means suffering until the end," he said.
The end of Milan has been presented as the opportunity for Atletico to avenge their defeat in Lisbon in which the Real Madrid defender, Sergio Ramos, forced stoppage time with a header in the last minute. Atletico players have already solved.
Saul Ñíguez midfielder, 21, said told Radio Marca last week that "the end is not a revenge for what happened in Lisbon, but an opportunity to make history." It is one of the players revelation this season at Atletico, especially after his goal against Bayern in the semifinals contribute to seal the team's place in the final against Real Madrid.
No matter what the outcome, the meeting between the two Madrid teams highlights the supremacy of the Spanish teams in the European game in recent years. Last Wednesday, the Sevilla won 3-1 at Liverpool and won for the third consecutive year, the European League.
For the game this Saturday, Real Madrid has a slight edge in betting, perhaps thanks to its unparalleled record of victories in this tournament, but Adelardo not discouraged.
"It would not be normal for Atletico was the favorite for the match," he said. "When I played, the only times I really hurt was when we started to Real as the victims."
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