Champions League quarter-final second leg: Too many worries for Atletico

The 0-1 defeat to Man.City in the first leg at the Etihad Stadium in the middle of last week means that Atletico need to win at least 2 goals to win a ticket to the semi-finals. Champions League. Is it possible for teachers and coach Simeone?

Human strategist Argentina Atletico’s said: “Man.City can be the best team in the world. We will change the gameplay a bit in the second leg but Man.City will still play the same way. With humility and diligence, we will compete. Then we’ll see where that takes us.”

Atletico (right) will lose some credibility in defense if Gimenez does not recover from injury in time Reuters

Atletico upset Man.City in the first leg with a 5-5-0 formation with a very simple plan: prevent the opponent from playing the ball. “Los Rojiblancos” only conceded once and now, they will play more aggressively in front of the home crowd in the hope of turning the situation around. However, there are very worrying things that are appearing in front of the teachers and students’ eyes Coach Simeone.

First of all, Atletico do not always get the best results at the Wanda Metropolitano, they have not won in the last 6 home matches in the Champions League (draw 4, lose 2). Second, this stadium will have to partially close due to UEFA’s penalty for “discriminatory behavior” of Atletico fans in the first leg.

In addition, if coach Simeone approaches the game positively as he claims, Atletico’s defense will be vulnerable to Man.City’s sweeps in counterattack. “We will go there to score goals and try to win again,” Guardiola made it clear.

The problem with “The Citizens” is that they have just experienced a very tense match against Liverpool (2-2) and this weekend they meet this opponent in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. Coach Guardiola will have to think about rotation of players, to maintain freshness. Accordingly, Mahrez, Grealish, Gundogan … can play from the beginning after only playing a reserve role last weekend.

With a 1-0 lead with an inspiring De Bruyne in good form, while Atletico are full of worries, “The Citizens” can believe they will reach the third Champions League semi-final in their history. me.