Official: Falcao and Micael join Atlético

After weeks of speculation, Atleti land the Colombian hitman & his Porto team-mate

Posted by on August 18th, 2011 in Transfers -

Image on the Vicente Calderón monitor Thusday (cuatro.com)

Image on the Vicente Calderón monitor Thusday
(cuatro.com)

Porto have confirmed, through the Portuguese stock exchange, that they have struck an agreement with Atlético for Colombian striker Radamel Falcao García and Portuguese midfielder Rubén Micael.

The forward will reportedly join los Rojiblancos for a fee of €40 million plus €7 million more if incentives are met, smashing Atleti’s transfer record.

The 25-year-old will sign a five-year contract with los Colchoneros.

The deal for Falcao is the big, marquee signing many Atlético fans have been waiting for all summer long, ever since it was confirmed Sergio Agüero would not be coming back for another season.

Fans at the Vicente Calderón watching Atleti take on Vitória in Europa League action were surprised with the announcement at half time on the stadium monitors.

The Colombia international comes to the Vicente Calderón on the back of a hugely successful Europa League title-winning and record-breaking campaign with his former club.

Falcao scored 17 goals in the UEFA competition, surpassing Jürgen Klinsmann’s record of 15, including the match-winning strike in Porto’s 1-0 victory over Braga in the tournament’s final.

The front man bagged 39 goals in all competitions in 2010/11.

After Porto’s match against Vitória this past Sunday, Falcao reportedly said “Atlético is a great opportunity for my career”, hinting at Thursday’s official announcement.

Also signed, likely as a condition to release Falcao, was Portuguese midfielder Rubén Micael, for an additional fee of €5 million.

Known as simply Micael, the player will be loaned out to Real Zaragoza for one season, according to Telemadrid.


  • 20corona

    Is this Falcao any good?

  • Edletico

    Great signing, just need Forlan to stay, Diego (or another creative midfielder) and then we have a competitive squad.

    What happened to the Ruben Michel that was meant to be coming as well.

  • starvs

    Man that is so much money. Much rather have seen a cheaper striker brought in to back up Forlan and the money spent on a playmaker.

    Hope this guy is worth it though.

  • Urban

    Wohoa, what a piece of news! Is this our record signing? Im truly amazed, wonder how will he do.

    Now Diego and we are rdy.

    Is the other fella included?

    What now with Elias?

  • Andres

    Rubén Micael is our player as well. For another 5 million

  • Edletico

    @Andres Is he any good, or could he used in a player swap for Diego or someone else

  • Ringo

    I don’t know Micael that well, but I’d rather take a risk with him than I would with Diego.

    Plus, if FIFA is right, he is more of a creative CM than a CAM, and in 4-3-3 that’s probably better, Koke next to him and Mario behind them or something, with pretty nice back-ups in Tiago and Gabi.

  • Davide

    No need for Diego now. Rubén Micael is one serious offensive central playmaking talent. Rubén Micael has recently cemented a starter spot for Portugese national team. Better than Diego. He was close to Chelsea and Inter recently. I can’t believe we got Rubén Micael also, well done. I’m sorry, but i am actuallt more excited about Rubén Micael 🙂 .. He is like Portugals Iniesta.

  • Andres

    I was told he was bought by Porto as a very promising player, but he didn’t get place in Porto’s XI. Now with Defour’s arrival he was a redundant.
    He seems to be some kind of rather offensive box-to-box midfielder maybe with some creative skills but I still cannot see place for him in Atletico squad.

  • SoLobo

    Why? Why? Why loan Ruben Micael to Zaragoza??? How idiots are we?

  • DJ_ZA

    Is falcao worth that much? He’s just given up playing CL this season, so I reckon he’s gonna play his boots off to :
    1. get Atleti into CL next year, or
    2. keep other big CL clubs interested in paying his hefty transfer fee if Atleti don’t.

    BUT this is Atleti and 1 good thing always leads to a bit of torture…. sadly I don’t think he’ll be doing anything great with Forlan, who will probably get sold while they can get a few Euros for him (hope I’m proven wrong on this one).

  • k14

    So the total can be up to 47 Mil while the buyout clause is 45 ?
    A bit strange.

  • k14

    Elias SCORED !!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Matthijs

    GOAL!! ELIAS

  • k14

    Elias scored again lol, both assists by Adrian.

  • dgsozkan

    Falcao’s quality is unquestinable but does he really worth for 40 mil ? I hope he does.

  • SoLobo

    Falcao is a non-eu… Who’s gonna go? Elias? That Elias? That night Elias? Oh please, don’t let it be Salvio…

  • Ringo

    This Elias is awesome and could link up very well with Falcao as he does with Adrian tonight, Salvio is awesome as well, so… Miranda should go, is my opinion at the moment.

  • SoLobo

    I am with Ringo… That could give more chances to Pulido as well… But is this going to happen? That ‘s Atletico…

  • Matthijs

    Salvio didn’t proved me yet, but he can be a great player! Can we put him on loan??

  • Matthijs

    I mean convinced instead of proved, sorry 😉

  • Hector

    Just to be clear, who are the for sure Non-EU players on the first team roster?

    Cabrera, Salvio, Elias, Miranda, Diego Costa, Falcao. What about Turan and Godin?

    I know Godin’s Spanish citizenship was announced but never learned if it was indeed finalized.

  • Edletico

    Elias looked quality in CM, would like to see Miranda leave on loan. Hopefully Diego is still to come due to left over money from De Gea transfer. Please keep Forlan as well

  • Ringo

    Turkey belongs to the UEFA, that’s enough, I believe, Cabrera is out on loan, Costa is injured for six months or so, that’ll be an issue in January, Salvio looks a stayer, Godin will hopefully get his citizenship in time, Elias looked like a certain departure, but if he’s like this all the time as C(A)M, I’d try to keep him, so Miranda might be the one to go, or Salvio, on loan, again…

    I don’t see Forlan staying and I don’t think he’ll stay ahead of Falcao for a long time, even if it’s just for the 40-47m…

  • k14

    Forlan will leave for sure, no spot in starting XI, and he will get to play in CL with Inter.

  • javi

    I agree with Satrvs to much money for Falcao. I would have prefered getting Llorente for 36M.
    But its water under the bridge now.

  • Davide

    Elias has always been played out of position by Quique on the left wing. He is a box-to-box midfielder with a offensive style of play. Probably one of the best central box-to-box midfielders in the Brazilian league when he was there. Today he played his natural position. And we still haven’t seen his long shot yet, Elías has monster distance shot, hope to see it soon. Elías is probably everything we hoped Raul Garcia would be. I would loan out Miranda for a year if i was in charge. I think Dominguez, Perea, Godin and Pulido is enough for the defensive roster.

  • Xisco

    @Davide you are right we still haven’t seen the best version of Elias,altough I think his best function would be as you explain it play offensively, I think we can play without Tiago, choosing Elias instead along with Gabi and Mario Suarez or Koke, I assume you saw matches of Elias while he was with Corinthians, what do you think about Bruno Cesar and Dentinho?, I would’ve love to see those guys wear the Atleti jersey, I think Bruno Cesar would’ve been our playmaker, but unfortunatey he signed for Benfica, what a shame.

  • great signin Falcao wil be our messi of atletico.
    Sell forlan to inter and get some £mil. Atletico are realy doing great in the tranfer window.
    Falcao,Arda,Micael,Gabi,Adrian wow i said it number without times Atletico are real title contenders
    FORZA ATLETICO VIVA FALCAO

  • Davide

    Twitter de Radamel

    @R9FALCAO

  • CH14

    He is not worth more than Aguero!

    Atletico never fail to amuse me sometimes 😐 Hopefully he can do well though!

  • Idan

    nice, but 45M its over..

  • Javi92

    how can this guy be our most expensive player ever?, there are hundreds of players better and cheaper that him, starting from Forlan he is 100 times better than Falcao, by the way Falcao can’t play without the ball Forlan does, Falcao needs to be assisted if not he is lost in the pitch, with those 40m we could have signed any of these better than Falcao players for a cheaper fee:Pato, Mario Gomez, Juan Mata, Giussepe Rossi, Nilmar, Guillaume Hoarau, Erdinc, Papiss Cisse, Didier Ya Konan, Youssef El-Arabi, David Trezeguet, Nelson Haedo Valdez, Lucas Barrios, Modibo Maiga, Mohamed Abdellaue, Moussa Sow, Oscar Cardozo (even better that Falcao has a monster distance left shot, Falcao can’t even score from distance), and many other better players than Falcao who’s not even worth 20m for me, but Cerezo is so amusing he would pay anything for a player like Falcao who is far from being worth 40m.

  • Edletico

    Falcao is better than a majority of them. He is a complete foward who is very clinical (1 chance 1 goal europa league final, 72 goals in 84 games etc) Only Rossi from that list is better and Villarreal will refuse to sell him especially to us.

  • Chalet

    I think that Falcao is exactly the ‘star signing’ that most Atléti fans wanted after the departure of Agüero.
    He is a top goal scorer and he brings a lot of reputation to the club.
    What I don´t like is the involvement of Jorge Mendes in both deals with Agüero and Falcao – and I´m still wondering why Falcao gave up guaranteed CL football with Oporto for playing at Atléti…

    I´m really anxious to see what kind of relationship there will be on the pitch between Reyes and Falcao.

    Another thing is that the arrival of Falcao will probably mean the departure of Forlán.
    Falcao will be a guaranteed starter for our team – and so will be Adrián after his brilliant performances recently.
    Adrián is a real asset and he is a great team player.

    I can´t imagine being Falcao, Adrián and Forlán all together on the pitch at the same time so there will be no place left for Forlán.
    Obviously the fans will be very pleased to have a player like Forlán as backup but in my eyes he deserves much better than rotting on the bench and therefore should leave the club.

    It was weird to see that Forlán even didn´t make the bench for the game against Vitória and this story about his bruised ankle sounds a bit fishy to me.
    You could read on Forlán´s site yesterday that he was looking forward to that game – and today he had a normal training session.

    His agent told Uruguayan media though that there is no contact with Inter at the moment and that he is in Milan for some other reasons.

  • Ringo

    I think Manzano will stick with 4-3-3, so one striker, one on the bench, one has to go: probably it’s for the best if that’s Forlan…

    And he went to Atletico because he wanted to play in a bigger league.

  • k14

    Forlan didn’t play because if he did, he wouldn’t be able to play in CL or EL with his next club.

  • Javi92

    @Edletico, Forlan scored 2 goals against Fulham in the EL Final or you forgot that already he also scored against Barca in 2010 as Atleti was the only team that defeated Barca in 2009-2010 season I doubt Falcao will score against Barca, Falcao is overated as his fee was, Hulk for instance is better than him, Mario Gomez way better that him he can depend on himself to score goals Falcao doesn’t, ad the others I mentioned they’re way better than him and you now that, besides is not the same to score goals in Ligue One, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, the portuguese league is way below these leagues specially La Liga, yes he broke the Europa League which is also way below Champions League, and what I’m trying to say is that with those 40m spended on Falcao we could’ve signed any of these strikers better than Falcao plus a playmaker whether is Diego or Gio Dos Santos currently linked with Atleti, It’s outrageous that Falcao is our more expensive player ever, it’s a joke, now if Atleti makes bids for players the other clubs will try to impose high fees thanks to people like Jorge Mendes, Porto’s president and specially Falcao, he should’ve stayed and play Champions League, but obviously he went to Atleti for money, that’s the only logic explantion, why else would he come to Atleti if it not was for the money, greedy Porto, greedy Jorge Mendes,and Falcao, Uefa should really do something about this greedy high fees clubs like Porto impose to steal money and expell people like Jorge Mendes who are only good to steal money from decent clubs like Atleti. Shame on Porto and company and also Uefa.
    Now we are a shallow without identity club like Madrid and Chelsea, who are willing to pay any fee for a greedy player like Falcao.

  • Guest

    @Chalet. Sadly I have to agree there seems to be no room for Forlán. It would be shameful to allow him to waste away on the bench or in the stands. But where can he go other than then bench/stands at this point? Unless offers are rolling in from other clubs or somehow a deal with Inter did become a reality, there seems to be little to no options for him. And you’re not the only one who is suspicious of Forlán not playing yesterday. Not many people are buying into Manzano stating Forlán was less than 100% due to his mini vacation and his bruised ankle.

    Onto Falcao. He seems to be a quality signing for Atletico. Hopefully him being there really benefits the team.

  • k14

    @ javi92,
    even though you believe in your words, its doesn’t make it true.
    was he overpriced ? ye, but its atleti fault, we could have contacted the player sooner, before his contract extension, we could have saved 10mil or even more.

  • Javi92

    @k14 sure it’s Atleti’s fault too but what i’m saying is that UEFA should do something about this nonsense high expensive fees from greedy clubs like Porto, they should put a maximum fee price on players, also why would Porto want 40m for Falcao when Chelsea was offering 80m for Hulk, that’s bs, they’re just greedy.
    You said that we should’ve contacted Falcao earlier, I say we should’ve instead keep Forlan, who’s champion of Copa , America, who was twice Pichichi, was Europe’s Golden Boot, World cup best player, when you have Forlan on your team why would you even need Falcao, he’s just an obsession.
    I still think he is overrated and way overpriced, one more thing, you said his buyout clause was 45m now all of a sudden it ascend to 47, that’s just bs, and why would we buy Ruben Micael and loan him to Zaragoza, that’s stupid.
    Now I more sure than ever that if we want to win something important besides just aspire to qualify for Europa League, Cerezo needs to leave the club for good or we’ll never be a top club in La Liga and Europe.
    We also need to stop negotiating with portuguese mercenaries.

  • Davide

    If no more strikers are brought in i actually think there is enough space for Forlán. Our big weakmess has been quality in rotation. Even though Adrian performed well so far, i don´t think he is a definitive starter for fiirst season. I believe he has been plyead now so much because the team was short on attackers. He is good, and will only get better, but he will be in rotation. Playin La Liga, CdR and Europa Legaue gives the team about 50-60 games in one season. I think Manzano is building a good rotational squad and Forlán fits the bill perfectly. In 4-3-3 with Reyes and Arda going in on the wings with Falcao up front. Three days later Forlan go in with Adrian and Salvio/Juanfran. Keeping a fresh squad is essential for thic campaign, and from the look of it in three different competitions. We have alwaus played first eleven againt lesser oppnonets when some players really need rest. It’s beena big problem for out fitness.It would great if Forlán stayed and strenghten our rotation set-up.

  • Edletico

    @Javi92 Yes I agree Forlan is still amazing and I would love him to stay and how could I forget that game against Barca, however Reyes’ run was quality and people want him out, the defence was superb and De Gea played a blinder.

    We are trying to build a team, Falcao can give us more options. He could play up front on his own and is likely to score loads, he could also play with Forlan by providing knock downs for Forlan’s long shots. He also provides an aerial threat which we haven’t had in a long time. I am just hoping a play maker is bought to provide service from midfield.

    Yes he is overpriced at the moment but if he scores a load of goals and fires us into the champions league then that is an extra 20m plus extra tv revenue and more money for a higher finish in La Liga. Also we are probably popular in Columbia now as he is their star player which will hopefully increase revenue from shirt sales.

  • palc

    Don’t think we need a playmaker( Diego). Gabi is a great passer, and we have Arda and Reyes who also is very creative players. Not to mention Forlan who distributes well as well.

    I think the team is perfect as it is now. But we do have to sort out the Non-EU dilemma..

  • Ringo

    Ok, Javi92, it’s clear you dislike Falcao, but it’s clear you’re UNDERrating him, I’ve seen your list of names, some you could call better, but it’s probably hard to compare them, still some of the names are pretty close to bullshit when you compare in quality.
    I also think Hulk is better, but in 4-3-3 Falcao is probably more useful and Hulk would cost 2-3 times more than Falcao! He’s City/Chelsea/Barca/Real-material.
    Rossi would cost the same amount as Falcao, I guess, maybe more, since Villarreal didn’t want to let him go and I don’t know if Rossi would want to go to Madrid and once again: 4-3-3

    I’ll quote Cudi now, because I think it’s fitting, haha: “Hate me now, then hate me when I’m winning”
    It’s not a certainty that Falcao will “win”, but I wonder what you’ll reply after he scored his first brace or hattrick or something else.

    I too think the money could have been better spent (or, almost, no spending at all could be nice), but what I’ve seen of Falcao, he’s going to do great. Of course you shouldn’t base your opinion on stats, but his are truly amazing, so I don’t think you’ll have to worry about him scoring goals and I don’t think he’ll need a lot of time to adapt.

    Look, Forlan is a great player, but he’s been scoring less and less the last two years, I also wanted to put faith in him, but I can understand if some do not, you shouldn’t base everything on past accomplishments, otherwise we should’ve gone for Pele, since he scored more than a thousand goals.
    Hopefully he’ll do great at Inter, he’s too good (and expensive) to rot on the Atleti-bench. Adrian is a nice replacement to have, he seems to link up great with most players already and seems to have a great vision.
    Third striker will probably be Borja, because of his number he can still play for “B”, so he won’t decline in the stands or something, he can still play and be called upon occassionally, which Manzano will hopefully do!

  • k14

    If it was my choice, I would have gone for Luis Suarez and Nasri, would cost us almost as much as we have spent on Falcao, but I doubt Nasri would wanna join atleti.

  • Javi

    Mata is going to Chelsea for 32m€ we could have saved 13m€ and gotten a great also

  • Chalet

    I know that the Portuguese league is mostly regarded as a minor league but especially Oporto has been quite successful during the last years.
    They managed to win the CL under Mourinho and they won the UEFA/Europa League. Apart from this they are regular starters for the CL group stages.
    And now Falcao wants to play in a ‘bigger league’?
    Falcao has had it all with Oporto – CL football, league titles, league cups and the EL trophy.
    What on earth does he expect he will reach with Atléti?

    I still don´t get why he signed a new contract with Oporto until 2015 and then all of a sudden wanted to join us.
    But most fans are very excited about his arrival and obviously Falcao wants to prove that he is worth the amount of money we paid for him – so probably he will be great for Atléti.

    I´m truly sorry to disagree with you, Davide, but I don´t think that rotation could be a solution for the Forlán problem.
    I agree that you need a fresh squad when you want to take part in 3 competitions as long as possible.
    But personally I´ve never been a friend of too much rotation because in the end you will always need a team of seeded players who work together very well to be successful.
    After the great performances Adrián put in for us recently I feel that it would be not fair to bench him for the upcoming games.
    So I´m really afraid and upset that this will leave not enough room for Forlán.

    @Javi92:
    Personally I like your defending of Forlán.
    It has nothing to do with Falcao but in my eyes Forlán really deserves better than warming the Atléti bench in the future.
    I know that it´s all about scoring goals but Forlán showed so much commitment to the club and rejected at least 4 offers during the last couple of months.
    I could understand that he didn´t want to join the Russian or the Dubai side – but maybe it would have been better form him to accept the offer from Galatasaray.
    Forlán has so much to offer to a team – he needs to be a starter and not to rot on a bench.
    But reportedly there are no new official offers for him – so why didn´t he make the squad against Vitória?

    @Edletico:
    Falcao didn´t impress me that much whilst playing at the Copa América but it is clear that he is the star player of his national team.
    I don´t think though that Falcao playing for us will automatically increase our shirt sales in Colombia.
    For example Atlético de Madrid is not a very popular club in Uruguay despite having Forlán and Godín playing for us.

  • Ringo

    Javi, Mata is great, but he’s a winger/-2 striker, he’ll have a hard time adapting to 4-3-3 (whether it’s 3 CM’s or like 4-2-3-1 doesn’t really matter), that’s why they probably went for Falcao and Osvaldo, since they’re capable of playing as striker in this formation.
    If you’d name/prefer Fernando Llorente, I’d understand if you were (extra) frustrated.

  • Edletico

    @Chalet
    He was alright in the copa, best of a bad team really (perea aside) is that true about Uruguay? I always thought we were popular over there because Forlan is their sporting hero after the world cup and I have seen a couple of Atleti shirts in Uruguay games. Still I think Falcao will be a very good signing for atletico

  • Chalet

    Edletico //

    No offense – and sorry for asking this, but how many games of La Celeste did you watch since Forlán joined Atléti?
    I agree that sometimes you could see some occasional Atléti shirts at Uruguayan games but in my eyes that´s not worth mentioning.
    In Uruguay Forlán is of course regarded as a national hero, a legend and an idol – not only for being the football player he is but also for his personality.
    From what I´ve seen a vast majority of people in Uruguay think that Forlán has not been treated very well by both the club and some parts of the fans during some time now and therefore don´t like Atléti very much.

  • Edletico

    Fair enough, I have seen a lot of games as I quite like their team (not only Forlan and Godin but players like Suarez, Alvaro P and Lugano). I cant really think of another country where people where shirts of clubs that don’t play in that country which is why I assumed that we were fairly popular over there. Similar situation to some of the Gala fans talking about how they will start supporting us as well due to Turan’s arrival

  • Chalet

    Edletico //

    I think that a lot of things changed during the last couple of months.
    People in Uruguay don´t forgive you for treating bad your national hero.

    I´m quite sure that we will have a lot of Turkish fans around due to the arrival of Turan.
    But up to now no Colombians have been knocking on our door… 😉

  • Edletico

    @Chalet

    I guess that is probably corrrect then.
    Hopefully this season both he and Falcao will score their fair share of goals then that may change

  • Ringo

    But they already bought the Forlan-shirts, if/when he leaves, there will not be many new Forlan shirts made, so the profit is probably already made with his name 😉

    Hopefully Falcao will get a lot of shirts sold, the sooner we get millions back, the better, but Atleti needs to gain more fame internationally, which is one of the reasons Ronaldo-shirts were sold in very high amounts!
    Hopefully the new partnerships will also lend a hand.
    Perhaps Man City fans will take more looks at Atletalent?

  • Javi92

    @Ringo yes Forlan’s productivity has decreased over the last 2 years, but with the goals he scored in the final against Paraguay he has confirm himself he is ready for the big games, and Falcao couldn’t even score against Peru from the penalty spot which proves he is not ready for the big games, yes he scored against Braga so what?, Forlan scored twice against Fulham, and Forlan is a better team player than Falcao, seriously guys, what else do you want from Forlan?, about Mata he can play as center forward too it’s not something new to him, he can play as the lone striker,but I know it’s useless that I complain about and Falcao’s outrageous and nonsense fee, we sign him period we can’t return him and get our money back, I would sell my soul to get rid of Falcao and get the money back which is nonsense of course, anyways I hope Falcao shuts my mouth in favor of the club and score at least 10 goals in the Europa League, which is not that great as I think the Europa League is way below Champions.

    And the story about the 1000 goals PELE scored as well as Romario everyone knows is fake, Pele and Romario count the goals they scored in friendlies or in their spare time which it’s absurd,

  • Trev

    IF FORLAN IS GOING WE DEFINITELY NEED ANOTHER CLASS STRIKER UP FRONT WITH FALCAO. OSVALDO WITH ESPANOL WOULD BE A GREAT CHOICE!….

  • k14

    there is no spot for both Falcao and any other striker in the starting XI, alot seems to be missing this point.
    Atleti new formation is 4-3-3 which means most likely it will be:
    Falcao
    Arda Reyes

    No spot for forlan, osvaldo or anyone else, and we have 3 subs in Salvio, Juanfran and Adrian.

  • Colombo

    Oh geez. To the guy that put all those players that are not even half of the player Falcao is, you will be shut by Falcao’s game.

    Falcao is the best center forward in the world, his best asset is: HIS PLAY WITHOUT THE BALL, he knows how to move, and where to move, he is tactically and phisically gifted player.

    His air game is superior than all center forwards… he is a real target inside the area and has a knack for scoring.

    Enjoy him, 47MM is nothing.

    Colombia is behind our star 100%. I am a Real Madrid player, but Falcao is my favorite player, and I will be looking forward for him to brake into the Pichichi in La Liga.

  • Colombo

    *Real Madrid Fan*

  • Javi92

    @Colombo, Falcao the best center forward in the world WTF?!!! are u high or what?!!!, Mario Gomez is way better than Falcao, you haven’t seen his goal against or what?, besides you haven’t seen those other players I named so why you talking, Tacuara Cardozo can score from anywhere, Falcao can’t even score outside the 18 yard box, Forlan at 50% of his capacity is easily better than him, besides Forlan can assist, Falcao no way, even Paolo Guerrero can assist as he did with Juan Vargas against Colombia, it was awesome seeing Peru tearing Colombia apart, by the way Nolito who pretty much played in the Segunda Division has 5 goals in 5 matches, 1 goal per game average, so that must make him better than Falcao, but no it doesn’t, so if Falcao excites you then Nolito is gonna turn you on.The portuguese liga has nothing on La Liga that’s why Falcao score that many goals because he played in a mediocre league where the only clubs that have money are Porto, Benfica, and Sporting, that’s why others team can’t compete against greedy mercenary Porto, Think before you speak.

  • Sebyk

    Javi92: Did you see Mario Gómez in any match in Bayern this season? Every game he missed at least three clear goalscoring opportuninties. Moreover he has no football intelligence, he’s invisible for the most of the match (if he doesn’t score of course). On the other hand, what I really admire about Falcao is how he works for the team, he’s a very good team player, making space in the box and undergoing loads of fights for the ball. I was in awe watching his movement off the ball – he’s a very clever and hard-working forward…
    And what about Europa League? 5 goals against Villarreal in 2 matches isn’t enough for you? 4 against Spartak Moscow? In other situations quality defences just couldn’t handle his movement and cool finishing. His stats against big Portuguese clubs are amazing as well:
    Benfica 6 matches/4 goals
    Sporting 5/6
    Braga 5/4
    And don’t tell me that Atlético will encounter many more quality opponenents than Benfica or Villarreal during the season. Anyway look at Lisandro who had worse stats than Falcao and how he rolls out in Lyon…

  • ali_

    “Mario Gomez is way better than Falcao”

    javi, u high or what? 🙂
    imo mario gomez is a joke. a big one.

  • Ringo Schut

    I don’t think Gomez is THAT bad, but it’s certain Falcao is the better player.
    So he missed against Peru, want me to name against which opponents Forlan missed the last two years (also prior to the Quique incident)
    Javi92, see what you did? You made me trash talk about Forlan while unnecessary. Falcao was expensive, yes, but still, he is a very great player, I don’t know exactly how well he’ll do, but I’m certain of it we’ll see lots of goals pretty soon, he’s proved about two years ago, that he doesn’t need a lot of time to start scoring his goals.
    Now please stop the trashing of Falcao, it’s starting to become pretty disrespectful. Why do you hate him so much? It really can’t be his skills, because then you would have to give up any dreams of making a career in analysing football, sorry man, but Falcao is a better striker (especially in 4-3-3) at the moment than Forlan is. I too wish we didn’t spend this money on Falcao, but now he’s here I won’t cry a lot, because he’s a great player and he will give us goals that Forlan could not.
    Forlan is a great player, but at the moment, Falcao is a level higher.

  • I am wondering why some people are ignoring FALCAO. A true CF scoring goals with both legs and head.
    Scoring 17goals at europe is not easy and wil never be easy. Falcao is better than mario gomes never doubt me
    Falcao didn’t play well at copa america because he didn’t have good midfielders now for example Messi is currently best player in the world but he didn’t deliver to expectation. Great signing.
    GOOD LUCK FALCAO WISH YOU THE BEST AT ATLETICO NICE TO HAVE YOU.

  • Javi92

    @Sebyk, SuperMario was the top scorer in Bundesliga, I guess that means nothing to you huh?, and talking about quality opponents, Valencia, Villareal, Malaga and possibly Sevilla, are way better than us for sure, let’s see if SuperFalcao, the best 9 in the universe, (so hell no, no freakin way), is ready for them, except Villareal as you know he scored 4 goals againts them.

    @ali_, you’re the real joke, get lost.

    @Ringo Schut, I don’t hate Falcao, in fact I think he was great at River, it’s just I dislike these 40-90M buyout clauses clubs like Porto impose, besides, why do we have to depend on players from mercenary Porto, and how come he is Atleti’s most expensive player EVER, it’s a joke, it’s horrendous and outrageous, also the real cause Atleti is not progressing is Cerezo, just look at Malaga’s campaign, they won like 12 games since Pellegrini arrived, Baptista was freakin great, (we could’ve signed him for a cheap fee, he never give ups and his a great player) they didn’t had the biggest games, yet, they stomped on us, Levante also had a great season, considering thay had the lowest budget on La Liga and they were destined to fight for relegation since the first game, Garcia Plaza proved he his a great coach and a great person, ( honestly I think he could lead us to a 3rd place in La liga and make us progress), Caicedo also, amongst others, had a great season scoring many goals for a humble team, (we could signed Caicedo for a low fee) Valencia also, they don’t have the big names, they know how to spend money, and in the sports field they are way better than us, Villareal also, they are a humble team and also they’re better than us. I hope these facts convince you that is not the big names that make you suceed but hard-work and humbleness do make you suceed.

    PS, We could have signed either Tacuara Cardozo or Paolo Guerrero, for around 20-25m, and spend other 20-25m to sign Borja Valero or someone else, and not “SuperFalcao”, who is only a whim of Manzano and Cerezo, and you know better we don’t need him.

  • ali_

    yeah javi, mario g is so damn good. i guess this is why bayern supporters prayin that finally someone would pay his fee so they could say goodbye to him… he is slow, he has no intelligence for this game. he scored a lot, but thats cos of the midfielders behind him. lets agree to disagree.

    btw i agree with u, that falcao was way tooo expensive.

  • Ringo

    Ok Javi92, but then why’d you have to say Falcao sucks, etc. and name 3 million other strikers that are supposedly better than he is?

    He is one of the best strikers around at the moment, I know he was way too expensive, but that won’t change, just look at the names now and how they’ll fit in the system.
    Falcao is a great fit, probably he’s the third best overall 4-3-3 striker around at the moment (after Messi and probably van Persie) and the best deep 4-3-3 striker in the world, at the moment, so be glad to have that.
    Well Cerezo is just stupid, very, very stupid, it’s Gil Marin that’s evil.

    Bad decisions were made, but be glad that with this bad decision, at least a great player arrived.

    I understand your opinion about hard work and humbleness, but because he’s an expensive player does not mean he’ll be selfish or something. As far as I know, Falcao is a great ‘fitter’, he’ll score goals and will surely give his fair share of assists.
    And this time Quique isn’t around to potentially create enemies for a player, all that is needed now is give Reyes some lessons, so he will not rule out any players any longer (Forlan is probably leaving, I don’t know about Dominguez).
    It was probably a very bad idea giving him the #10 jersey, it will give him the idea he can do whatever the fuck he wants, because it’s clear he’s very immature!

    And we should probably stop discussing about Gomez. He has nothing to do with Atletico AT ALL, and as far as I know, this website is dedicated to Club Atletico de Madrid.

  • Javi92

    @Ringo, It didn’t specifically say Falcao sucks but you could say I did,,it’s just I dislike Porto A LOT, remember Maniche,Seitaridis, Costinha and others, they were supposedly gonna make us suceed but they were awful, tha’s why I don’t like Porto players, it may not be a valid reason but that’s the way I think, also I think, Pato, Edin Dzeko, Kun Aguero, Giuseppe Rossi, (remember Vieri at Atleti, I was hoping Rossi may have surpassed him if signed for Atleti), Paolo Guerrero had a great Copa America, it’s just Hamburg is one of the worst teams right now at Germany, they’re better than him, but hey you’re right I’m gonna stop criticizing Falcao.

    Also, when I talked about hard work and humbleness, I wasn’t refering to Falcao, I was referring to the club, some people think we are still one the best teams in Spain, we’re not unfortunately, that’s why Kun left, he had all the right to left, but not say the stupid things he did, he’s kicking as at England, I hope he keeps it up, but yes, the club needs to act humble and work hard if we want to suceed from now on.

  • Colombo

    @Javi92,

    You will be surprised with Falcao.

    He was great in copa america besides the penalty he missed.

    Colombia vs Peru? Colombia dominated the game until the extra time when it all fell down. Falcao was one of the best players of that Copa America because of his movements without the ball.

    Pato, Giuseppe Rossi, Guerrero, Gomez, Cardozo (who even admit he was less than Falcao) are below the level Falcao has.

    Falcao is like an improved version of Inzagui, Falcao actually helps a lot coming down and stealing posession, building up the play and scoring in a predatory form…

    Atletico should know… He has played 2 games vs Atletico and scored in both games… one of those goals a great backheel goal…

    Anyhow, I am a Real Madrid Fan, have always been, but with Falcao in Atletico, it will definetly be my second team… there is just not a player like Falcao if you have follow him closely.

    Falcao is better than Higuain, Benzema, and any other CF in La Liga.

    He will prove it, not only to you Javi, but to all Atletico fans.

    When he moved up from the youth academy in River, river fans did not think much of him, now they cannot wait until he comes back one day.

    @Porto, they did not believe he could replace Lisandro Lopez, but boy did they forget him quick.

    After 72 goals in 82 games no other CF has that ratio.

    He scores in big games too, he is not known for being a choker, quite the opposite…

    18 goals in UEFA 2011
    4 goals in Champions 2010
    4 goals vs Benfica
    6 goals vs Sporting
    4 goals vs Braga

    all those big games…

    Did you watch the games vs Villareal?
    Did you watch the games vs Sevilla?

    Falcao’s record would have been even better if he had not been injured at the begining of 2011 in January for about 1 month and half.

    Anyhow, you got a complete player, one who is responsible: Does not party, trains hard, is humble, a real star…

    Let’s talk again Javi in 2 months time when he has already racked up the goals and display fabulous team play.

  • lfsr

    first and foremost, congrats to the colchonero fans, Falcao is a great signing. I’ve read all your posts and I’m actually quite surprised as I always felt Atl Madrid was a top club. You get a great signing in Falcao and all you do is count the money? Is this why you guys struggle? You think Man City thought twice about picking up Kun while still having plently of firepower upfront like Tevez?
    In so many blogs previous to this signing, the majority of bloggers were insulting Atletico fans stating that Falcao would never go to a non CL team. But the reality is probably in many layers: 1) there’s the agent that’s looking to make as much as he can 2) Falcao is very religious and likely trusts teammates like Perea, who in turn is also religious 3) it’s an easy transition for his family – language/culture 4) with so many Colombians already in Spain, it’s a good choice overall.

    Falcao is not as fast as Suarez, not as cunning as Aguero and not as physically imposing as Torres…BUT he is VERY intelligent (like a young Forlan), 1st to the ball, an amazing vertical leap and one step ahead of most defenders. To come out as a top scorer from the River Plate youth system since he was 15 and excel at top club level in Argentina (in a time where RP was really getting to be a poor team), then transfer to Porto, win a starting role and excel the way he did….you guys have just bought a gem….

    fyi — for the NT, he has underperformed. But so have ALL Colombian top players. Tons of talent with poor coaching, so on NT level, you just can’t compare.

  • Xisco

    @lfsr, one thing you’re forgetting my friend is, we’re not Man. City, Anzhi, or Chelsea, we’re not owned by rich gentlemen like Abramovich, so in case Falcao fails, that money is gonna be wasted, and fyi about the Colombia team, they had a great coach like Bolillo, most players if not all of team, play in Europe, it’s not Bolillo’s fault Dayro Moreno missed againts Argentina or Falcao missing his pk or is it?

  • Teso

    Bolillo a great coach?

    He is the most hated coach Colombia has ever had.

    Many Colombians were scratching our heads when he was named head coach. He is a horrible coach. With SantaFe he wasn’t able to get to top 10 out of 16 teams; even though he had great players, next year after he left Santa Fe made it all the way to the finals…

    Anyhow, Falcao is top CF at the moment, he will shut you guys in a months time, I’ll come back to this site to see the new comments.