Six years after the cruel defeat against Real Madrid in the final of the 2014 Champions League, Atlético Madrid has rebuilt to return to Lisbon this Thursday and challenge Leipzig in the quarter-finals (9 p.m., RMC Sport). Until the last minute of this famous final at the Luz stadium, Atlético held a historic first coronation in the European queen event thanks to a goal from Diego Godin. And then the unthinkable happened: Real equalized on a providential header from Sergio Ramos after extra time (90th + 3), before winning 4-1 in overtime. What remains at Atlético of this nightmarish memory?
Hunt the old ghosts
A few faces only: a beloved and still undisputed coach, Diego Simeone, the immovable midfielder Koke, and the hot striker Diego Costa. Above all, there is a state of mind, a true character trait of the Colchoneros. Muddled but beating, beaten but resilient. For Atlético, this return to Lisbon against an opponent within reach and in a dry match will be the opportunity to chase these ghosts, with a ticket for the last four of the Champions League at stake, while the last half club's final in this competition dates back to 2017. Because the defeat in 2014 against Real left a deep mark on the Rojiblanco club, which still retains the scars of this fiasco, amplified by a new defeat in the C1 final in 2016 in Milan, at again against the neighbor merengue (1-1., 5 tab to 3).
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If Real Madrid have retained 8 of the 18 players who were on the scoresheet for the C1 final in Lisbon, their neighbor was completely upset, especially last summer. In recent months, the Colchoneros have taken advantage of the transfer window to rebuild the team in depth. There were the departures of many pillars (Antoine Griezmann, Diego Godin, Filipe Luis, Lucas Hernandez, Rodri ...), the return of well-known faces (Yannick Carrasco or Diego Costa in the summer of 2018) and the arrival of new faces, including Alvaro Morata, Hector Herrera, Renan Lodi, Felipe, Mario Hermoso, Kieran Trippier, Marcos Llorente ... As well as the recruitment of the Portuguese nugget Joao Felix (20 years), the most expensive recruit in the history of the club (126 million euros), which will return Thursday in the city which revealed it to the eyes of the whole world under the colors of Benfica.
Undefeated Colchoneros since the recovery
Against Leipzig, will the hot Simeone be cooled by the memory of the failure of 2014? The dynamics of Atlético suggest not. After spending the whole year warning the media and fans that it would be a "transition season" and a lean period in terms of titles, the Argentinian technician managed to re-mobilize all these new players around a project common game. The start of the season was complicated, with notably a defeat in the Spanish Supercup against Real Madrid on penalties in January (0-0., 4 tab to 1). But now, Koke fully assumes his role of captain, Costa, Morata or Correa (absent during the quarter because positive for Covid-19) get along well on the front of the attack, and the results follow one another. The Colchoneros, 3rd in Liga, remained unbeaten (7 wins, 4 draws) in the eleven league matches that followed the resumption of La Liga in mid-June. Lisbon, Lepizig and Europe are warned: Atlético is never as good as when it has to prove its ability to rebound ...
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