Match Preview: Espanyol vs. Atlético

After their success in Leicester, Atleti focuses back on LaLiga to face Espanyol.

Posted by on April 22nd, 2017 in Match Previews - 114 Comments

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The last Liga matches at the Calderón are arriving and Atlético look forward to keep their place on the table facing Espanyol at their home. The team will try to regain their spot after Sevilla caught up with a win.

Kick off at Power8 Stadium is set for 20:45 CET.

Cholo’s mens’ success at the Champions League was set last Tuesday. With Saúl scoring on 26” (and after Vardy from Leicester scoring on 61”), Atleti was left with an aggregate score of 2-1 and a place in the Semifinals.

The Catalan club is currently ninth in the table, having a balanced number of wins, draws and losses through the season. Their coach, Quique Sánchez Flores, stated that Atleti was on a different position back when they visited Madrid. Now, “[Atlético] has regained their strongest defensive, they are more secure…”

That match at the Calderón back in December finished on a 0-0 draw. The teams’ defenses were playing at their best.

Both Simeone and Sánchez believe the teams are similar and it will be a demanding game. Simeone praised the former Atleti coach, who brought the team to win the Europa League and European Super Cup in 2010. Moreover, Sánchez Flores believes that “Simeone has succeeded in impregnating his style of playing” adding that the Colchoneros have played at their best in the last five years.

The squad looks familiar for this match. Juanfran currently suffers from a grade II muscle injury on the right thigh. Filipe suffers from a hand injury, although he has been called this time by Cholo and if positioned on the eleven, he will play with a splint.

Considering Sevilla’s win against Granada gave them three points enough catch up with the Rojiblancos, a win against the ‘pericos’ is vital.

Simeone will look for the proper line-up, seeing that Sánchez Flores gave a challenging position for them to score any goals in December. “We will look for the players that are more prepared so they can respond to what the match needs” he said.


Squad list for tonight:
Goalkeepers: Oblak and Moyá.
Defenders: Godín, Filipe, Savic, Lucas and Giménez.
Midfielders: Tiago, Koke, Saúl, Carrasco, Gabi, Thomas and Gaitán.
Forwards: Griezmann, Torres, Gameiro and Correa.


  • Vagabond Messi

    i’m hoping for rotation, our players need full rest before Madrid derby cl semi. there’s nothing left in league, rest all main players.

  • Zinni DUDU

    Goint to be funny without a right back. I only hope that Gimenez plays rather there than Savic; he seems for me faster and more technical than Savic, who is performing great recent in the middle with Godin. I am sure that we will not miss Juanfrans crosses, because they were all season long shit. I hope Vrasljko will be ready for tues- or atleast for saturday next weak. I am sure that he can deal with Penaldo and his 25 step overs without winning some room.

    I hope really that Torres can score today; he needs really some confidence before the CL clashes.

  • Vagabond Messi

    penaldo and his step over are long gone. biggest threats are marcelo and carvajal supplying deadly crosses and splitting defense. our players are not rested for today wtf man. we need to rotate and be fresh for Uefadrid.

  • Los Blanco

    Because your team has no good reserve players?

  • Vagabond Messi

    i mean play with reseve if we’re to play this shit football. btw, we have good reserve.

  • Jeronamo Pakor Jones

    Awful first half. I wonder why Torres keeps getting the nod ahead of Correa

  • Los Blanco

    Defensive wise you played perfect.

  • Zinni DUDU

    Because Simeone is letting play them with long balls. Without Torres we would play even worse. Who should hold up the Ball? Griezmann?

  • Jeronamo Pakor Jones

    Really??? And what has Torres been doing lately? Like seriously I don’t dislike him and I applaud effort but that tactic u mentioned and him playing has not been working out

  • Vagabond Messi

    problem is not Torres. problem is not playing Gaitan or Thomas even if we need rotation.

  • Los Blanco

    Gaitan was great in Benfica.

  • Jeronamo Pakor Jones

    Never said it was the only problem but that’s what I’m questioning as he hasn’t been good enough to be starting

  • Zinni DUDU

    Same as Vietto in Villareal, Jackson in Porto, Oliver in Porto and and and and and

  • KO ROLLINS

    Gaitan is way better than koke

  • Zinni DUDU

    I still not get the sub. Can somebody explain that? Why not Gameiro, Gaitan or Correa?

  • Jeronamo Pakor Jones

    I’m raving about it as we speak as well

  • Vagabond Messi

    you’ll never understand it. Simeone is obsessed with his trusted players, win or lose. Zidane on other hand is not affraid to bench Benzema and play with bench to rest seniors. i bet our players will be gassed against uefadrid like they were in 2 finals. this man has no idea of rotation.

  • Vagabond Messi

    i’m sorry but Koke is only creator, lol at way better. koke, Saul and Gabi needs rest. Simeone can play them alternatively. gaitan should come in place of saul who has been awful through out season.

  • Los Blanco

    That’s why Los Blancos is the best.

  • Vagabond Messi

    go suck bbc

  • Los Blanco

    Go suck italian bbc.

  • Vagabond Messi

    you sucked 2years back? didn’t you? we beat juventus unlike you.

  • Zinni DUDU

    Hahahahahah did you see Saul again Ceicedo? Ceicedo is on the ground and he is shooting against him hahahahahaha. Damn I never saw suck bad passer in the midlefield…

  • Los Blanco

    Juventus can both attack, and defend unlike your joke team. All you do is sit back, and wait.

  • Zinni DUDU

    It is really sad that this real madrid dick sucker is in one point right. We can not even attack against fucking espanyol properly..

  • Vagabond Messi

    yes we can’t attack, but even you play like a small team and park the bus.

  • Vagabond Messi

    no offense to all Saul fanboys, but he’s a very mediocre CM. all he has got is a great shot. Did you read one of fanboy post how Saul is so great cause Simeone plays him in week in week out while Thomas is just piss poor lol.

  • Zinni DUDU

    Nothing against his work rate, desire and passion, but he can not pass. What do you want with a midlefielder who can not pass? It is like striker who can not score goals.

  • Vagabond Messi

    he’s a work horse but he can’t defend that as well. im not against playing him. i just want rested midfield against uefadrid in cl, whoever plays. gaitan, Correa, Thomas should be utilised for rotation.

  • Jeronamo Pakor Jones

    What the actual fuck… U take off the only winger?

  • Zinni DUDU

    Gameiro is on the pitch and what is the team doing? Playing a long ball to him. FUCK

  • Zinni DUDU

    Fuck off we have 4 CM and 3 CB. We will fuck them

  • Jeronamo Pakor Jones

    Well let’s watch. Hopefully this works

  • Jeronamo Pakor Jones

    Lol. Let’s hope this works

  • Zinni DUDU

    It was ironic. We are fucked.

  • Vagabond Messi

    man, Cholo’s has sacrificed even counter attacking football for his love for all out bus parking.

  • Jeronamo Pakor Jones

    Lol I know and you mean sarcastic

  • Zinni DUDU

    It is worse than Chelsea 2012 in Munich. They were atleast playing with some creative players

  • Los Blanco

    You can always support Los Blancos. 😉

  • Zinni DUDU

    I prefer to die

  • Vagabond Messi

    that Chelsda had 3 quick players plus Mata to set up counters. Fine, we defend well but do we create chances on counters? cholo team hardly scores 1 goal.

  • Jeronamo Pakor Jones

    Come on Atleti, let’s go

  • Zinni DUDU

    Yeah but still shit in set pieces. I do not know how many set pieces we had this season and all were shit. If he wants to park the fucking bus with 3 CB and with 4 CM he should atleast practise that more.

  • Los Blanco

    Cholo’s team also can’t score penalties.

  • Vagabond Messi

    we can only defend, atleast play some fast players and a creator. who gonna set up counters? Saul dude can hardly pass 2m. Our set piece are also gone, we should’ve kept Raul Garcia.

  • Jeronamo Pakor Jones

    Griezmann

  • Jeronamo Pakor Jones

    Please stay lad

  • Vagabond Messi

    what a finish from this angle, Best finisher in the game.

  • Zinni DUDU

    Saul with an accidental assist. hahaha

  • Los Blanco

    Griezmann saves Patetico again.

  • Vagabond Messi

    lol

  • Zinni DUDU

    buisness as usual

  • Vagabond Messi

    i don’t mind but it won’t work against Madrid, best we can do is keep it 0-0 or 1-1 before they score from corner or cross. high pressing for 180m is only way to deal with them.

  • Los Blanco

    King Cristiano will score another hattrick against Patetico. 😉

  • Vagabond Messi

    with help of uefa he’ll score tap ins s usual. btw r u gay ? u must be having crush on his gay face?

  • Los Blanco

    It’s inevitable.

  • Vagabond Messi

    you must hate manly looking players and team like atletico, i understand a fag like u love gay team like madrid.

  • KO ROLLINS

    i didn’t see any creation from him

  • Los Blanco

    You’re upset that your team will never win the UCL. I understand. It’s hard. 3 times runners-up.

  • Vagabond Messi

    go look at assist list of koke and Saul. saul is useless

  • Vagabond Messi

    real men are not affraid of losing, real man make hard time look easy, i’ve nothing against fags like u for supporting a fag team. but man i can’t respect fags and fag team.

  • Los Blanco

    Enjoy your suffering.

  • KO ROLLINS

    Saul is a defensive midfielder and i am not defending saul i believe that he should be on the bench with koke

  • Vagabond Messi

    enjoy bbc, ur life is so pathetic that u come in to atleti fansite, only a weakling fag like u can do.

  • Vagabond Messi

    Koke has been Assist leader, only behind Messi in last 3-4 yesrs. wtf are you talking about? Saul is defensive mf yet his defensive stats are worse than Koke. stop sucking saul and also watch matches.

  • KO ROLLINS

    calm down man it’s just my opinion plus i am not defending saul and you talk about koke like he is fucking fabregas the guy can barely move properly

  • Zinni DUDU

    Our best attacking player and only reliable. I really think that Torres shoul not extend his contract. He does not seem to be able to recover his form. It would be also the best for him not get always scapegoated by everyone when he is on a band run..He should leave still as a legend and not when everybody wants him out.

    Gameiro is offering also not very much. I am sure that the club will buy in the new window a new Number 9.

  • Karlp

    I got really tired just by watching this. Props to the players who gave their all, especially our soon-to-be 34 years old captain. As in the previous meeting, Espanyol plays similar game to Atleti which is very tiring for the players. Very proud of the players and very happy that no one got injured.

  • Karlp

    also congrats to our GOAT who get his landmark goal. Another remarkable and selfless display.

  • Vagabond Messi

    i don’t think Torres or Gameiro are at fault, i’d like a creative midfielder than a new striker. we simply don’t create anything for our attackers.

  • Vagabond Messi

    Saul is like Fabregas? he would be lucky to be 1/5th of player Fabregas was.

  • Vagabond Messi

    you’re stupid

  • Hannu

    Wasted my time to read this circus. Is it really impossible to ban these Zinni dudus and Vagabond Messis etc? Ruining this site all over.

  • Zinni DUDU

    :(((((((

  • snᴉsɐlB

    admins should have done something… i think it’s too late now.

  • Zinni DUDU

    Kes lan pic amk

  • snᴉsɐlB

    aha, sure.
    next time try it in english.

  • Zinni DUDU

    I said: Saul fanboys spotted

  • Maura

    When I found this site last year, it was very good and I really enjoyed reading the comments. Now it looks like a bunch of trolls have invaded and ruined it.

  • snᴉsɐlB

    nope. i’m very far from being a Saúl fanboy.
    but you and the other retarded kid should keep masturbating on saúl’s performances elsewhere.

  • AndersAT

    I really hope Barca win tonight. Partly because I hate Real Madrid a lot (but I hate Barca almost equally much). But it would be so nice if Barca could put some pressure on Real Madrid before the semifinals of UCL.

  • Zinni DUDU

    Casemiro doing again MMA. How is that possible?

  • Hannu

    Yeah, you should keep your wankfest somewhere else.

  • Hannu

    Yeah, I have enjoyed too but nowadays its just trolling after trolling..And one of the trolls even wondered why there is no articles when there was break 😀

  • Vagabond Messi

    They have no problem criticising other players but when we criticise Saul for his average play they want us to get banned lol.

  • Vagabond Messi

    He’s immune to cards, i hope Simeone calls for fair match before semi to bring attention on RM players.

  • Vagabond Messi

    So we’ve to just pretend and lie about Saul performances? I didn’t even ask him to be benched, just asked him to get rotated so our midfielders can get much needed rest before semi. I even asked Koke and Gabi to be roated alternatively . Man you’re just too blind with your Saul love.

  • Zinni DUDU

    King Saul starting as usual. God help us; starting this man will kill our attacking ambitions again. Leaving aside that, I am happy seeing Gaitan and Correa in the line up. I would rather see for Saul Carrasco, Gameiro or Torres; even Savic in midfield woud provide more creativity

  • Los Blanco

    I hope that PSG buys Griezmann this summer, and that the transfer ban stays so that Patetico can get relegated next season.

  • Zinni DUDU

    Is Ronaldo still crying? How was the taste of Messi´s dick?

  • Los Blanco

    It was delightful. 😉

  • Vagabond Messi

    I couldn’t watch the match, why we’re playing same midfield twice a week when we have madrid derby cl semi next week? What’s point of tiring our players when league is long gone?

  • AndersAT

    Well I do agree that the tone in here is not good, and that some people post way to much of the same view. But the real problem is that so few people have relevant comments and discussion topics (a year ago at least 4-5 people had very frequent comments) and the rate of posts on the site is so low. It is possible to simply ignore the people you think don’t contribute with meaningful debate issues. On the other hand it is very annoying that a post has 90 comments where 95% is pure rubbish. And I do understand that nobody wants to write something for this site when the vibes are so negative.

    http://www.intothecalderon.com/ Is an ok site, but unfortunately with way to little comments and discussion.

  • Vagabond Messi

    Madrid are resting their whole midfield plus strike force for tonight match while we keep tiring our midfield even when we’ve no shot at la liga now.

  • Zinni DUDU

    Well if you mean this arab who was supporting the muslim brotherhood and is always posting on twitter something against Assad, I have to tell you that, he had always said that Saul is nothing special.

  • AndersAT

    I am not talking about Saul and I do not care about some guys political beliefs.

  • Vagabond Messi

    Well , Dudu is right .Kris, Ahmad and even Koke were critical of Saul performances, so i don’t know what old posters are you talking about? May be one or 2 Saul fans who’re to sensitive to take even slightest of criticism because of his handsome look or whatever.

  • AndersAT

    Again, this has nothing to do with Saul.

  • Zinni DUDU

    Well I could give you a cumshot right on your face.

  • Hannu

    Your fixation with Saul plays tricks on you.

  • Hannu

    Yeah its always possible to just ignore and you can always block these two but anyways some of the relevant writers are gone already so this is more or less ruined already. Into the calderon is ok site but as you said there is very little comments section. They are more focused to Twitter.

  • Vagabond Messi

    On other news Carrasco is injured and probably won’t be fit for cl derby.

  • Vagabond Messi

    Stop sucking Saul’s **** and get some fresh oxygen. We only asked to roate midfield so players midfield trio can get much needed rest. But a fangirl like you want to get us banned? May be if you get your head outt his arss you can see football player for what he’s rather than his looks or whatever you love.

  • Zinni DUDU

    Again Saul is starting. I do not how many times I have to say that, but our attack is starting in our defense. If we are not able to play with two or three quick pass to our strikers like Gameiro, Torres, Griezmann or Carrasco we will not be able to damage our opponent. Saul can not deliver this type of game. His passing is really bad for a midfielder. He is not able to play through balls to our strikers, instead he prefers to dribbel past three or four defenders. People are blaming Torres and Gameiro (me sometimes included) that they are not able to score goals, but how is a striker suposed to score goals, when has not midfielder to create chances for him? The last player who was able to control the game from an CDM role was Tiago; unfortunately he is past his best. I really would give all to have a 31 or 32 old Tiago and his prime back to bench Saul. Maybe he will be one day a good midfielder maybe not. But we are not in the position to give him playing time that he can develop his fucking game, we have to get results in the CL.

  • Vagabond Messi

    No rotation for 3 Cms and Griezmann? It seems players are gonna get gassed in next match.la liga is long gone, rest players for God sake.

  • Aqil Azhan

    Good goal from gameiro

  • Vagabond Messi

    GOod cross from Saul for the goal.

  • Vagabond Messi

    2-0 up now rest koke ,Gabi and Griezmann.

  • Vagabond Messi

    WHat a ball from Gaitan, quality.

  • Zinni DUDU

    Filipe would be the first one I would rest, but we are out of defenders hahaha

  • Zinni DUDU

    Yeah. If he would provide creativity like that more, nobody would criticise him

  • Zinni DUDU

    Yeah great composure

  • Zinni DUDU

    What now? Wer do not have any RB and even the player who is not our RB but is playing RB is injured. Damn why now ? Why at this stage of the season? I do not want to see Savic as a RB ….

  • Vagabond Messi

    Carrasco injured, both Rb injured and we’ve to play Madrid when their fullbacks are best in world right now. It will be too tough man. I just hope Gaitan plays as RB , Savic would get eaten by pace of Marcelo if he plays as RB.