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| Changing of the guard? Contenders Atletico and champions Barcelona |
It’s the finale
everyone had hoped for since it became clear Atlético Madrid would be in with a
shot of winning the title this season: Barcelona versus Atlético at the Camp
Nou, on the final day of the season.
The
circumstances are somewhat different from what had been envisioned, though. Both
teams are limping into tonight’s game and over the finish line – Atlético due to
fatigue and Barcelona because of an unexplainable late season melancholy.
Combined, Barça
and Atleti have contrived to pick up just three points from the last 12 available
and two wins from the last six games.
The stakes, nevertheless,
are high and the tasks for each side clear. Barcelona have to win, Atletico need
only to avoid defeat.
Only twice
before has the championship gone to the final day in this manner; ironically each
involved Barça or Atletico. In 1945-46 Sevilla edged Barcelona in a final round
decider to close the season; five years later Atletico emerged victorious in a
similar showdown, also against Sevilla.
As Andres Iniesta
put it in the build-up, “the whole season comes down to 90 minutes.”
Barcelona and
Atletico over the past three games
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
GF
|
GA
|
GD
|
Pts
|
In La Liga
|
||
1
|
Barcelona
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
5
|
4
|
+1
|
5
|
6th
|
2
|
Atletico Madrid
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
-1
|
4
|
11th
|
Pressure
on Atletico
Funnily enough
the pressure tonight is on Atlético, the clear underdogs for much of the season.
La Liga leaders through the season
Week
1-21: Barcelona
Week
22: Atlético Madrid
Week 23-24:
Barcelona
Week
25-28: Real Madrid
Week 29-37:
Atlético Madrid
Week 38: - - -
|
Everyone had
been waiting all season long for them to falter but Atlético have extraordinarily
kept in touch with Barcelona and Real.
In fact, Los Colchoneros did so well they could
be champions by now had they beaten Malaga at home last Sunday. Instead a 1-1
draw means all their hard work could yet be undone.
Barcelona, on
the other hand, shouldn’t be here. They know it too. Their last two matches have
been draws against relegation-threatened opponents and, in-between those
results, Barça held a team barbeque team that appeared to be an
end-of-season send-off.
Their accuracy
and verve has long since left them and these past four weeks have felt like an
extended exit interview for coach Gerardo Martino.
Barcelona since
April
01.04.2014
|
Champions
League
|
Atletico Madrid
|
H
|
D 1-1
|
05.04.2014
|
La
Liga
|
Real Betis
|
H
|
W 3-1
|
09.04.2014
|
Champions
League
|
Atletico Madrid
|
A
|
L 0-1
|
12.04.2014
|
La
Liga
|
Granada
|
A
|
L 0-1
|
20.04.2014
|
La
Liga
|
Athletic Bilbao
|
H
|
W 2-1
|
27.04.2014
|
La
Liga
|
Villarreal
|
A
|
W 3-2
|
03.05.2014
|
La
Liga
|
Getafe
|
H
|
D 2-2
|
11.05.2014
|
La
Liga
|
Elche
|
A
|
D 0-0
|
Yet, somehow Barça
are within grasp of the title and that heaps pressure on Atlético; a team that
hasn’t been here before and that will be haunted by recent failures to wrap up
the title, first losing to Levante and then inexplicably (for the stakes
involved) drawing at home against Malaga.
 |
| Costy, Costy Malaga celebrate, Atletico wait |
Home
advantage
For all their
struggles Barcelona’s home record, as ever, remains imposing – 16 wins in 18
games this season, 63 goals scored and only 14 conceded.
In fact, plain and simple, Barcelona’s home record is insane.
Barcelona have lost just three of their last 94 league games
at home (winning 85) dating back to the start of the 2009/10 season.
Against Atletico
their record is similarly daunting.
Barcelona have won their last six league meetings with Atleti at the Camp Nou,
scoring 4.3 goals per game on average (Atlético have not won a point at
Barcelona since 2006).
Take into the always likely hometown decisions and the size
of the task that awaits Atletico, even with Barcelona’s woes, becomes clear.
Barcelona’s home record since start of 2009/10 season
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
GF
|
GA
|
94
|
85
|
6
|
3
|
302
|
61
|
The
outcome
The form guide says
Atletico do have a chance and that they know how to handle Barcelona. The sides
have met five times this season and Atletico are unbeaten including knocking
Barcelona out of the Champions League.
Tactically, the
board has been written many times. Barça have flaws Atletico look to take advantage
of – on the counterattack, at set-pieces (Barcelona have conceded a league-high 25% of their goals from corners) and sheer
physical harassment through the 90 minutes.
It’s worked thus
far but this is an incredible opportunity for Barcelona, one that they will be motivated
to seize even if they have been the poorer side coming down the final stretch.
Barcelona, in
truth, have coasted over the last five weeks; they haven’t expanded as much
energy, physically and mentally, as Atlético who’ve put in so much effort it’s a
minor miracle they are still standing.
On their best
day Barcelona still posses the best player on the planet, the world’s best midfield,
and pertinent to this particular game, the greater experience of the big
occasion.
 |
| Barcelona still have Lionel Messi... |
Is it important
for La Liga that Atlético win the title?
Yes.
The world is secretly rooting for Atlético tonight. Well,
outside Catalonia at least.
La Liga has become too much of a two-team league.
Of course, the
Spanish Primera has always generally been that way; Real Madrid and Barcelona
are Spain’s two giants and have won 54 of the 82 titles (65%) since the league’s
beginning. However, there were still genuine challengers. Between 1996 and 2004
Atletico, for example, Deportivo La Coruña and Valencia each won titles while
Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad finished in the top two.
La Liga winners
by club
Real Madrid
|
32
|
Barcelona
|
22
|
Atlético Madrid
|
9
|
Athletic Bilbao
|
8
|
Valencia
|
6
|
Real Sociedad
|
2
|
Deportivo La Coruña
|
1
|
Sevilla
|
1
|
Real Betis
|
1
|
La Liga parity
1996 to 2004
Season
|
Winners
|
Second
|
Third
|
1995–96
|
Atlético
Madrid
|
Valencia
|
Barcelona
|
1996–97
|
Real
Madrid
|
Barcelona
|
Deportivo
La Coruña
|
1997–98
|
Barcelona
|
Athletic
Bilbao
|
Real
Sociedad
|
1998–99
|
Barcelona
|
Real
Madrid
|
Real
Mallorca
|
1999–00
|
Deportivo
La Coruña
|
Barcelona
|
Valencia
|
2000–01
|
Real
Madrid
|
Deportivo
La Coruña
|
Mallorca
|
Valencia
|
Deportivo
La Coruña
|
Real
Madrid
|
|
Real
Madrid
|
Real
Sociedad
|
Deportivo
La Coruña
|
|
2003–04
|
Valencia
|
Barcelona
|
Deportivo
La Coruña
|
Points tally gap
between Real Madrid and Barcelona, and the rest
Barcelona
|
Real Madrid
|
Third-place
|
Gap
|
|
2008-09
|
87 (1st)
|
78
|
70
|
8
|
2009-10
|
99
|
96
|
71
|
25
|
2010-11
|
96
|
92
|
71
|
21
|
2011-12
|
91
|
100
|
61
|
39
|
2012-13
|
100
|
85
|
76
|
9
|
However, since then only once has a team other than
Barcelona or Real finished in the top two (Villarreal in 2007-08).
Barcelona and Real, of course, make ridiculous money – their
combined budget last season was reported to be €987 million, while the total
for the other 18 clubs was €872.6 million – and are as elite in Europe as at
home.
What
had
been the problem, however, had been the widening gap – the feeling that their
dominance domestically had gone too far; that there was no way their duopoly
could be challenged.
 |
| Up, up and away! Star striker Diego Costa leads the way, but he could be gone by the end of the season |
Atlético have also
shown it’s possible to stand toe-to-toe with Barcelona and Real.
It doesn’t mean
there’ll suddenly be mini-Atléticos springing up but
it reaffirms that challenging the top two is possible when Spain
believed it wasn’t – something which visible in the approach of teams over the
past four seasons.
The
hope is that Simeone can do something
similar to what Jose Mourinho achieved at Chelsea 10 years ago
in terms of the
culture and tradition he instilled at the club, installing
a new DNA.
Chances
like these don’t come often. One moment can define a club history.
There
is no guarantee Atletico will challenge again if they don’t win tonight.
History is littered with also-rans who got close to the mountain and never
quite made it back, some even falling back into obscurity altogether.
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