This Thursday in the Spanish capital Atlético Madrid and Lazio conclude the second leg of their Europa League fixture on banks of the city’s Manzanares river. Last week the Italians were humbled on their home turf, and as far as order measurements go, theirs is going to be quite a tall one if they are to progress any further in the competition. The Roman side has a 3-1 deficit to overcome against a rojiblanco team which, so far under Simeone’s stewardship, has only leaked two goals in eight competitive matches.
Domestically speaking, neither team had a encouraging weekend on the back of last week’s encounter, with both being frustrated by “lesser” opposition. In Lazio’s case, the wounds they were left to lick were particularly deep, as eighth placed Palermo gave them a 5-1 pummelling, which saw them drop down to fourth in Serie A and led an embarrassed Edy Reja to admit, "we had a total blackout" after the final whistle.
Lullabies and good night kisses are what one would expect the former Napoli coach to lavish upon Sunday’s experimental 3-4-1-2 formation before putting it to bed ahead of Thursday’s trip to the Calderon, but his hand may be forced again as injury woes still abound for the Biancocelestis (White and sky blues). So depleted is the Lazio squad at the moment that Christian Ledesma was played as a centre half during the humiliation in the Stadio Renzo Barbera on the weekend. With the likes of Stefan Radu and Giuseppe Biava still out, and players like Abdoulay Konko (suspensed for the Palermo game) probably low on confidence after being humbled against the Spanish side last week, Reja has very few resources at hand to pacify the Atleti front line.
Luckily for him though, aside from their master class in Rome last week, the rojiblanco machine has not exactly been firing on all cylinders of late. On Sunday Cholo’s men were held to their third league stale mate in a row, as a plucky, second-from-bottom Sporting Gijon held them to a 1-1 draw in the Molinon. This uninspiring string of results raises some legitimate concerns about the wastefulness on display, especially considering the talent at the Madrid’s club disposal - they had to rely on Canella to score an o.g. for their only goal in Cantabria.
Dropped points not withstanding, the worst thing to come out of Sunday’s la liga clash was the news of Diego’s hamstring injury, which will see the Brazilian side lined for at least a month. Without his creative flair and vision in the centre of the park Atleti are definitely a weaker team and his absence on Thursday arguably leaves Simeone without his best player since taking over. On a positive note for the Argentine, Tiago should be available to fill in for the Werder Bremen loanee, and with Mario taking on the role of the holding midfielder, the Portuguese player could be pushed higher up the pitch (a position he is already comfortable with) to help pull the strings for the likes of Koke, Adrian and Falcao.
Whatever the concerns about firepower are for the home side, the fact of the matter is that this game is theirs to lose and as long as they can contain Klose and Alfaro up front, Lazio don’t stand much of a chance of beating them. Defensively, Atleti look very assured and breaking them down will be a real test for the off-form visitors.
The Italians are in a catch 22 situation, where committing men forward in order to overhaul their deficit is necessary but at the risk of exposing a make-shift defence to the likes of Adrian and Falcao who thrive on counterattacking football.
Prediction: Like the first leg I see Atlético upping their game for the European stage, especially at home, where they have convincingly won all of their Europa League matches so far this campaign.
No comments:
Post a Comment