It has been a wonderful few days for Portuguese soccer, as a result of it wasn’t simply Benfica who went by way of as group winners. Porto additionally did so by beating Atletico Madrid on the Dragao.
Consequently, there was loads of discuss of the relative power of the Primeira Liga and La Liga, the latter of which is able to solely have one consultant within the final 16 for the primary time since 1998-99.
Barcelona’s elimination rightly dominated the headlines final week given their summer season spending spree, however they not less than stumbled into the Europa League.
Atletico could not even handle that, with Diego Simeone’s facet ending all-time low of a bunch that, in addition to Porto, additionally contained Membership Brugge and Bayer Leverkusen.
Some might really feel that lacking out on the Europa League is a blessing, nevertheless it’s a match that is been very, excellent to Atleti. Certainly, the monetary implications of getting no knockout video games in continental competitors are grim. Atleti might properly now be pressured to promote a high participant.
Simeone would most likely be pleased to let Joao Felix depart at this stage. Because the membership’s Most worthy asset, his sale would not less than elevate some funds for a rebuild. However they will not get something like what they paid for him, which means it is going to tough to fund the overhaul that Simeone’s squad so desperately wants.
It is exhausting to know the place Atleti go from right here. The try and embrace a extra bold strategy, on the sphere and within the switch market, didn’t repay, and arguably resulted in Simeone turning into much more cussed from a tactical perspective.
The worrying factor is, although, that Atleti are now not excellent at what they had been as soon as famend for: defending. They did not preserve a single clear sheet on this 12 months’s group stage and conceded 9 objectives – greater than any earlier marketing campaign underneath Simeone.
The Argentine has labored wonders throughout his 11 years on the helm however there’s a rising worry that Atleti and Simeone, one of many recreation’s nice amorous affairs, might now not be proper for each other…