La Liga’s title race went to the last seconds of the season, as the winning manager had always said it would When at last it was all over Diego Simeone let everyone in on a little secret. With four or five games to go and Atlético Madrid on edge, anxiety gripping and their pursuers closing in, he got together the physios, staff and the people on the gates at the Metropolitano and Cerro del Espino – the first faces the players see every day – and told them to change. Related: Juventus thank their lucky stars as ‘Fatal Verona’ hand them a lifeline | Nicky Bandini pic.twitter.com/WwXXYlzDTcCongrats, @atletienglish ⚪ Atlético are #LaLiga champions for the 11th time, pipping rivals Real...
As Diego Simeone had predicted, it was Luis Suárez who rescued Atlético just as fate looked to inflict another cruel blow“We’re entering into The Suárez Zone,” Diego Simeone said. Atlético Madrid’s manager knew but even he couldn’t have known it would be quite like this, another story of the absurd in a season built on them. If this was The Suárez Zone, which it was, it was The Twilight Zone too, the implausible unfolding in front of them. With 147 seconds left on the penultimate Sunday there was another twist, delirium inside the Metropolitano where they had just witnessed the Uruguayan score the goal that changed everything, and outside where they hadn’t, but went wild anyway. How could they not?...
Chants from Car Park B of the Wanda Metropolitano helped get an agonised Atlético over the line against Real SociedadThe Atlético Madrid fans at the Metropolitano didn’t watch the match that took the club to within touching distance of the league title, but they lived it. Still not allowed in but determined not to be left out, if they couldn’t see their players on Wednesday night their players could hear them, song drifting in through the open southeastern corner of the stadium. Supporters gathered in Car Park B beneath the biggest flagpole in Spain, the 338 square metres of red and white that normally fly from it taken down because of the wind on this night of all nights, while...
Diego Simeone’s team were not only outplayed but made to look physically weak and a major reset may be requiredThere was a moment just before the hour between Chelsea and Atlético Madrid when Diego Simeone, prowling the side of the pitch all dressed in black, shouted at his players: “Don’t leave the game.” Listening to his command, crystal clear and echoing round Stamford Bridge, watching what was happening or, more accurately, what wasn’t happening, you couldn’t help but think: leave the game? They’d have to get into it first. Related: 'No one wants to play us': Tuchel talks up Chelsea's European chances Related: Kai Havertz and Timo Werner click with Hakim Ziyech in a flash | Barney Ronay Related: Ziyech...
The £220m of attacking talent at Stamford Bridge has been a rare puzzle, but Thomas Tuchel’s job is to make it work – now he has the missing pieceWith 33 minutes gone at Stamford Bridge something startling happened. There are moments in the life of a successful team that come to be seen as transformative. It might be pushing it to see outright ignition, a lightning bolt, the man of many parts creaking up from his trolley, neck bolts whirring, in a breakaway goal from an attacking trio with a combined record of five goals in their past 66 Chelsea games before this second leg.But then, it really was a brilliant goal. And something did seem to stir here, enough...