Hi everyone !! I'm here to tell about the match which kept us in the edge of our seats till the game ended.Yes as the title says "Atletico Madrid vs FC Barcelona" champions league
quarter finals 2nd leg.
First let's see the teams :-
Teams :-
Atlético Madrid: Thibaut Courtois, Diego Godín, Filipe Luís, Juanfran, João Miranda, Tiago, Koke, Raúl García, Gabi, Adrián López, David Villa
Substitutes : Dani Aranzubia, Mario Suárez, Cristian Rodríguez, Toby Alderweireld, Emiliano Insúa, José Sosa and Diego
Barcelona: José Manuel Pinto, Javier Mascherano, Marc Bartra, Jordi Alba, Dani Alves, Cesc Fàbregas, Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Lionel Messi, Neymar
Substitutes: Oier Olazábal, Martín Montoya, Pedro Rodríguez, Alexis Sánchez, Alex Song, Adriano, Sergi Roberto
Referee: Howard Webb (From England)
Injury Updates :-
The Home team (Atletico Madrid) played with an awesome counter attack which was the biggest threat to the Catalan's defense.The Barcelona defense was a piece of cake to the Home team (Atletico Madrid) because the main defense player of the team "Gerard Pique" was injured a week ago,Puyol who was injured a month ago who is still not recovered. This was good news to the Madrid players to break up the defense early and easily !!
And a another danger for the Catalans was "The Goalkeeper".Victor Valdes who was injured before 3 weeks was told that he will not be available till the season ends.
And on the other side (Atletico madrid) the attack system was a bit collapsed as the striker(Diego Costa) and the center attacking midfielder(Arda Turan) was missing due to the injury.This was a good news to the Catalan's (Barcelona) as their defense was weaker,As the goal stopper position too.
Kick-off start's :-
And with these all the speculations running around the "Kick-off" started !!!
As usual the Catalan's maintained possession,But when they lost their possession,they experienced an counter-attack !!
And as expected the goal came from the home team (Atletico Madrid) in the "5 min" by "Koke" who did a volley to make it a goal with a cross from "David-Villa" !!
And after the goal,Atletico were boosted up with energy and braveness.And then in the "8th min" when barca lost their possession again they experienced an counter-attack with the familiar face of "David-Villa",who shooted the ball with force but the ball was intervened by the Defender(Mascherano),But when the ball remained in the box,the goal- keeper(Pinto) dribble's the ball between David-villa and makes the fans of both teams to stand up and look up for another goal to the home team(Atletico Madrid) !! But the goal-keeper passes safely to the defense player to maintain possession.
And again the Catalan's maintained possession for a time but again when they lost the ball in between the pass the counter-attack was seeming to be working with David-Villa running on the left side,But this time he hits it forcefully between 19-25 yards,But this time the post says no to the goal !! It hit's the bar of the goal post.
After this moment which was shaking the defense of the away team,The Catalan's felt that their defense was not good !! So when the away team(Barcelona) headed near to 30 yards with Dani alves having the ball,made a cross to Messi who was in the debox unmarked,
made a heading which was so close to the goal but the goal-stopper did not seem to give a goal to the away team that easy,He beats the ball to make the ball go inches away of the goal post !!
And when that happened in the "24th min" with Neymar running furiously with a long-tap to beat the defenders of Atletico Madrid,who made it to the de-line box,made an awesome skill when came into contact with a defender,and made a pass to "Leo Messi" who was being pressed by "Felipi Luis" but Messi managed to shoot with pressure which gone wide out off the post !! And when all crowed at one place,the fans wanted to see what was happening there,And they came to know that when Neymar made the pass he he stamped by "Juanfran" with his boots making Neymar to suffer !!
And then the home team seemed to be calm as the half-time nears,But the away team seems not to be as so !! They made an awesome counter attack which was seemed to be working but the counter-attack was dismissed by a penalty-looking foul by the defender of Atletico Madrid,But the Ref doesn't seem to be giving penalty !! And the expected Half-Time arrives by the whistle sound of Howard-Webb.
As the 2nd half started,Barcelona maintained most of the possession as their tactic was,but they made passes and counter-attacked at the same time which seemed to a slow poison which would give them a goal,As it goes.In the "58th min" Neymar was in the middle having Messi behind him who made a through ball to Neymar,The fans thought that it's a confirm goal,But again the young goal-keeper did not seemed to be giving it so easily,he made quick decisions to stop the ball by sliding and punching it by hands !! And wow it was a save and gave cool breeze to the home fans !!!
And in the "59th min" Dani alves was having the ball and made a cross which was to Xavi
who was Un-marked in the box but didn't get the height's to reach the ball as he was shorter !! And the Catalan's were frustrated as they missed two of the chances to score from easy positions.
In the "69th min" Messi gets a free-kick which was in about 20-25 yards which is a easy position score a goal for Messi ! But boom the free-kick was stopped by the wall and the Home-team came into possession after a long-time
And with only 20 minute's remaining Barcelona manager "Gerardo Martino" made clever changes in the intention to change game onto their side,by changing "Fabregas-Alexis"
and "Iniesta-Pedro"
And when the Catalan's gave possession in the "72nd min" they felt a counter-attack by the home team with Gabi running front with Brata and Mascherano running behind,Gabi had a clear chance to make it a clear win to them but the shot was stopped by the goal-keeper "Pinto"
And now Barcelona attacked and the possession was with them for a time of 15 minute's
and they did what they wanted to do but the defense system of Atletico was awesome with letting only few chances for Barcelona to attack !!
And the home fans started to ask for the whistle for full-time but then,there was a add in time of 3 minutes,for the three minutes Barcelona had possession and stayed in between of 30-25 yards but then,no luck for the Catalan's to win the game but Atletico did it !!
Atletico made it to the Semi-finals which has not happened since 1974 !!!
And now he is the happy man who has to be so !!!!
Match Report :-
Possession -
Barcelona - 75%
Atletico - 25%
Man of the Match :-
Koke ( Due to the goal and shots on target)
Match Highlights :-
Here's how Koke's goal came from :-
Thanks for Reading and check out other posts and see the coming posts as soon as possible !! Pls comment your views on it !! Visit again