Battle for Madrid, for Europe: UCL Final Preview
The teams are set for the 2014 Champions League Final, which is to take place in Lisbon, Portugal. Like last year’s all-German final between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, this year’s final will be a cross-town rivalry game between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in an all-Spanish matchup. Being in the same league gives a considerable advantage to both sides, each familiar with each other’s playing style and makes it easier to predict the outcome of the game.In matchups against Atletico this season, Real Madrid is 2-1-1, with both wins coming from shutouts in the Copa del Rey semifinals. In every matchup against Atletico, Real has been a dominant force when it came to possession of the ball. With a strong midfield found in Xabi Alonso, Angel Di Maria, Luka Modric and key summer acquisition Gareth Bale, the team can afford to play with the ball in the middle of the field before passing the ball up to forwards Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo.However, possession is never always the factor that ensures victories; just this past Tuesday, Real Madrid beat out last year’s champions Bayern Munich without dominating in possession of the ball. In fact, Bayern Munich controlled the ball most of the time in both games played, beating out Real Madrid by a margin of ten percent. The week before they were completely crushed in possession by a much larger margin of 32 percent. When it came down to it, Real Madrid simply converted on the chances that were given to them, shutting the former champions out of the final by the final aggregate score of 5-0.
However, surprisingly enough, Atletico was never really outcompeted by Real Madrid, and have been on a roll in the Champions League. Beating out FC Barcelona, the former champions of the Spanish League, and currently topping the tables of that league makes Atletico look like an appealing side when it comes to the Champions League final. Led by Diego Costa, David Villa and Adrian at the attacking positions, Real cannot underestimate the talent of the Atletico. It has happened before and could certainly happen again.If given the right opportunity, Atletico could easily score early on in the match, and hold on to that lead for the rest of the game. In the Copa del Rey semifinals against Real Madrid, after losing to a dominant performance by Real 3-0, they lost the second leg to Real 2-0 due to some
careless mistakes, giving away two penalties to their cross-town rivals, ultimately throwing away any chance to participate in the Copa del Rey final. If Atletico can limit the amount of careless defensive mistakes, it can make the match much easier than it has to be.With most of their success coming from major tournaments this year, Real Madrid would be my pick to win the Champions League. In previous matchups against Atletico in the regular season, Real lacked some major players at the time, including Gareth Bale. The Welshman has been an absolute powerhouse during this tournament, along with his Portuguese companion on the left wing. The three big names on Real (Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema) have combined for a whopping 26 goals, while the top three scorers on Atletico (Diego Costa, Arda Turan and Raul Garcia) combine for only 16 goals in the tournament. With this impressive offensive lineup, along with a rock-solid (although overly aggressive at times) defense, I am certain that Real Madrid will become the new champions of Europe. Score: Real-Atletico 2-1, with goals by Ronaldo, Bale and Costa, the top scorer on each team