“From purgatory to hell” is a fitting description of Atletico Madrid’s upcoming match this Thursday. After the paint-dryingly dull display in the Calderón last Sunday, where the 55,000 fans in attendance watched on as the home team stumbled to a 2-0 win over Granada, Atlético’s next stop is the infamously hostile Ismet Inonu Stadium in Istanbul, as the second leg of their Europa League clash with Besiktas needs to be settled.
Despite the comfort with which the colchoneros controlled last week’s encounter against the Turkish side, in the words of Atleti’s Diego Godín, “it would be a mistake to play for a nil all draw [this time round]”. The 3-1 cushion Simeone’s men take into Thursday’s tie by no means translates as a free pass to the quarterfinals, and the Uruguayan defender expects the home side, along with their ear-blisteringly noisy fans, to come at his team with a bang, "the atmosphere is going to be extremely heated, but if we score first we'll have the upper hand".
Going in the Spanish team’s favour is the fact that Besiktas have lost their last two home games (to Braga and Trabzonspor) and are generally treading water in a sea of mediocrity where form is concerned. To add to the Kara Kartallar’s (black eagles) woes, in-house fighting involving the manager, Carlos Carvalhal, and the Jorge Mendes represented (ahem, owned) midfielder, Ricardo Quaresema, means the latter will be left out of the squad for Thursday’s encounter, as relations between the two have soured to seemingly irreparable levels.
With Hugo Almeida still out injured and Fabian Ernst picking up a suspension in the first leg, Carvalhal doesn’t exactly have his strongest starting XI to choose from. Nonetheless, the former Porto coach is unlikely to deviate from his attack-minded 4-3-3 formation, with Holosko, Simao and Pektemek likely to make up the front line, Fernandes, Aurelio and Uysal supporting them from midfield and Toraman, Sivok, Sidnei and Koybasi behind them.
The 12th man will no doubt play a vital role in this game and the presence of Arda Turan (on the bench I’d suspect), who played his football with Besiktas’ arch rivals Galatasaray before moving to the Spanish capital, will surely add fuel to the already raucous fire.
With Tiago and Diego carrying injuries, and Antonio López still not fit enough to risk playing, el Cholo made some unexpected call ups to his 19 man squad. Pizzi got the nod, while the Argentine also found space for cantera whizz kids Saul Ñíguez and Pedro Martín on the Turkish bound plane (the later almost not making the trip due to a misplaced passport).
With the race for fourth heating up in the league, Simeone is probably contemplating Sunday’s difficult clash away to Mallorca and next Wednesday’s showdown with direct rivals for the last Champions League spot, Club Athletic, although he would never admit it (and I’d never dare ask).
Giving the unfriendly setting, Simeone will more than likely go with the same tried and tested starting line up as last week: Courtois, Juanfran, Miranda, Godin, Filipe, Gabi, Suarez, Salvio, Adrian, Koke and Falcao. However, as the game goes on, and presuming Atleti grab a goal, I would expect changes to be made as key players are wrapped in cotton wool ahead of the upcoming week’s gruelling league fixture list.
Prediction: Given the internal problems at Besiktas at the moment and the manner with which they capitulated in the first leg, I can’t see them turning things around sufficiently to advance past an Atleti side which, under their new boss, have only once conceded more than one goal in a match; and that was at the hands of Barcelona. The Falcao and Adrian partnership is also too prolific --12 goals between them in Europe this season -- for me not to see the rojiblancos scoring over 90 minutes either.
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