It was David Vs Goliath today at Stamford Bridge when Chelsea took on Atletico Madrid in the other Champions League Semifinal match. The winner would travel all the way to Lisbon, Portugal to take on Real Madrid. Jose Mourinho has been in this situation before with Chelsea and he has failed before so all eyes were on the chosen one and whether his Chelsea team could take out upstarts Atletico Madrid. The first meeting between the two teams ended in a scoreless draw so it was very important that Chelsea not allow Atletico to score due to the away goal factor that comes into play. Despite Fernando Torres scoring the first goal of the game against his former club, Atletico pressed on and began to outplay the blues on their own home turf. It almost started to resemble yesterdays game and it was all due to the inflating goal scored by Adrian Lopez who was in the right place and right time for the rebound. Both teams would go into halftime tied at one, but it seemed as if it was Atletico's game to win with the away goal advantage.
Going into the second half, it seemed as if there was no more urgency from Chelsea like they were defeated or at least it would seem that way right after second half substitute Samuel Eto'o conceded the penalty to Diego Costa. Of course Costa didn't miss his penalty shot and he put Chelsea in a very big hole, one that would prove to be there ultimate demise. Arda Turan would score the third and final goal of the game off of a identical play to their first goal of the game and that sealed Chelsea's fate making this the second time Mourinho and his team has made it to the semifinals and failed to win. It sets up what could be an interesting next couple of weeks in the La Liga picture. If Atletico is able to win their next two games they will secure the La Liga crown and they essentially have a shot at taking the Champions League crown in what will not only be an all Spanish final, but the next chapter in the Madrid Derby. Diego Simeone is close to becoming my 2013-14 season manager of the year. I am very impressed with what he has done with this Atletico Madrid team.
No comments:
Post a Comment