The Atletico Madrid team celebrates after their late win against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
What: AFP
Diego Pablo Simeone is known for being able to pour the wisdom of football into well-sounding phrases. “Once you get used to winning, losing becomes even more difficult,” explained the Atletico Madrid coach on Saturday.
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This was preceded by a surprising 0-1 loss at their small town neighbor Leganes, his team's first defeat after 15 wins in a row. This ended a series that was not only a club record, but also unparalleled in Europe this season. So far – because Bayer Leverkusen, currently successful eleven times in a row, is a team that is preparing to reach the mark.
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8th place is the goal for Atletico and Bayer
Atletico (12 points, 11th place) and Leverkusen (13 points, 4th place) are among a dense field of clubs speculating on one of the top eight places – in order to avoid a playoff in which they face top-class teams such as Real Madrid and Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain could go.
Simeone called Xabi Alonso's Werkself an “extraordinary team” yesterday, to whom he expressed “unreserved congratulations for all his work”:
The way they play football is admirable.
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Atletico coach Diego Simeone about Bayer Leverkusen
Last minute wins against PSG and Barcelona
This is traditionally said less often by Simeone's own team. During the Argentine's 13 years in office, Atletico has made a name for itself as a particularly unpleasant opponent, relying on robust defensive and perseverance football, especially against strong rivals.
The two most sensational victories of this season also came about this way. Atletico won 2-1 against PSG in the Champions League and FC Barcelona in the league. After long defensive battles, the last attack in stoppage time was used to score the decisive counterattack goal.
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Atletico's specialty: efficiency and late goals
Well-known factors for this efficiency are captain Jan Oblak in goal and a stable defense. But also the new variety in attack, which has been reinforced with top-class reinforcements with the Argentinian Julian Alvarez (75 million euros from Manchester City) and the Norwegian Alexander Sorloth (32 million euros from Villarreal).
In addition, old master Antoine Griezmann, 34, is experiencing a renaissance after retiring from the French national team and the coach's son Giuliano Simeone, 22, who has become a regular player, brings a lot of dynamism on the right.
-During its long winning streak, Atletico scored more often than could be expected based on the quality of its scoring opportunities (“Expected Goals”). Nine of the 15 successes were celebrated away from home, six times the winning goal came after the 80th minute and four times after the ninetieth.
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Atletico's “unexpected” defeat
Against this background, the end of the leganes race was full of ironies. It happened away from home, with a hit on the crossbar by Alvarez, a hit on the post and a missed penalty by Griezmann as well as expected goal values of 2.72 to the opponent's 0.47.
Unlike in many previous games, Alexander Sorloth was unable to help out as a high-class joker; he will also be out injured against Leverkusen.
Will there be a comeback for Leverkusen's schadenfreude?
Then Atletico not only wants to stop the Germans' current series, but also settle an old score. In their last meeting at the end of 2022, the Spaniards were eliminated after a heated game due to a missed penalty in injury time.
Afterwards, some Bayer professionals laughed gleefully in their opponents' faces. In Madrid they have not forgotten this reaction.
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