Atletico ugly, Bayern superb; yet Rojiblancos progress

Simeone’s men make it to final courtesy Griezmann’s away goal after second leg finished 2-2 on aggregate

KARACHI:

The silence that followed Antoine Griezmann’s crucial away goal for Atletico Madrid in the return leg against Bayern Munich was wrought with shock.

The entire Allianz Arena, along with its 70,000-plus Bayern supporters, was stunned.

The fans, who had been exceptionally noisy since kick-off, were suddenly rendered speechless as Diego Simeone’s men found the goal which would have been enough to take them to the final of the Champions League.

Many rued Thomas Muller’s missed first-half penalty, while others pointed fingers at manager Pep Guardiola for not starting Franck Ribery and Muller in the first leg in the first place as Bayern succumbed to yet another semi-final defeat. And their frustration was justified; after all, Guardiola had failed to get their beloved Bavarians past the same stage for the third year in a row now.





But despite their hopes of making the final having been dealt a major blow and Bayern still needing two more goals to end the contest in normal time, the crowd stayed behind their team.

They pushed them, sang for them and shouted their names. Their efforts bore fruit when Robert Lewandowski headed home Bayern’s second goal of the day — Xabi Alonso had given them a lead in the first half — to get them back in the contest.

Now the five-time European champions needed just one goal; just one goal and they go to Milan.

But despite having scored a whopping 30 goals in the Champions League, the most by any team in Europe this season, and even managing to get two past the best defence in Europe — Atletico — Bayern found it difficult to get the decisive goal as the Rojiblancos became as compact as physics allowed them in trying to defend their crucial advantage.



Tempers flared in the final minutes of the eventful half, and minor scuffles started emerging as Bayern players started blaming Atletico for playing ugly, for deliberately wasting time and for trying to kill off the game.

And they had a point.

In their desperation to get to the final, Simeone’s men certainly did play ugly. They were seen wasting time even when the match had just begun. They were seen kicking the ball away when they conceded a free kick. Basically, they were doing anything they could to stop Bayern getting in their flow.

The neutral spectator, who expected this semi-final to be action-packed, and the Bayern supporters, who were hoping for a comeback after Saul Niguez’s other-worldly strike had condemned them to a defeat in Madrid last week, certainly must be frustrated with the way Atletico played.



But what else could have Atletico done?

They were facing one of the best attacks in the world, managed by one of the greatest-ever football managers, financed by one of the deepest coffers, at one of the most daunting stadiums in the world; Atletico players were well within their rights if they wanted to play a bit ugly.

What certainly should not have happened was when Simeone lost his cool in stoppage-time and hit a match official for allegedly taking too long to announce the substitution. But apart from that, Atletico played the best they could.

The stats show how one-sided this game was as Bayern registered a staggering 33 shots, with 11 on target and even enjoyed a whopping 72.7% of the possession. But regardless of Bayern’s domination in the middle of the park, Atletico successfully snuffed out their attacks and only gave away two clear goalscoring opportunities, which the Bavarians converted successfully.

No matter how the match played out, the outcome sees Atletico securing their place in the final in San Siro; their second in three years.

And if luck has to play its part, then the team which knocked Bayern out of the Champions League semi-final in the past two years has gone on to win the Champions League — Real did it in 2013-14 and Barcelona did it last season.

Atletico fans must be desperately praying for this trend to hold this year as well because if it does, then the mattress-makers will have a Champions League trophy to show off in addition to the countless other accolades they have amassed in the past few years.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2016.

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