Champions League: Atlético 1 – 0 Barcelona

Atlético advance to semifinals of the Champions League

Posted by on April 9th, 2014 78 Comments

Koke atletico barcelona

Koke beats Barcelona (AS)

Atlético Madrid have qualified for the semifinals of the Champions League for the first time in over 40 years after taking care of Barcelona at the Vicente Calderón.

Despite losing out by a single goal, the Catalans were no match for Cholo’s Colchoneros as Atlético beat their guests on aggression, intensity, passion and the support of a nation in red and white.

An early goal by Koke decided the two legged tie, which was won by Atleti 2-1 on aggregate. The midfielder scored in a hectic first quarter hour when Atleti completely overran Barcelona. After Adrián hit the post, the ball was picked up by Koke who found Villa on his left. The Asturian’s cross was headed back by Adrián to Koke, who volleyed the ball in with his left to make the Vicente Calderón explode.

Atlético smelled the fear of their opponents and pushed forward even more, hitting the post a second time through David Villa after the excellent Gabi picked off Busquets in midfield. And still within the first twenty minutes Atleti again struck the woodwork when Villa hit the crossbar a third time.

Despite the series of chances for the home side, the teams were separated by a single goal and Lionel Messi nearly tied it up with a header from close range. In the 25th minute the Argentinian again had a big opportunity to score, but he failed to make the most of Neymar’s excellent run. It were the only two times Messi made an appearance as the world’s best player was completely invisible for most of the game. Andrés Iniesta, last week’s best player, was also shut down by Gabi and Tiago and was taken off well before the final whistle as Barcelona struggled to break down Atleti’s defence.

There was one moment in the second half where the old maestro Xavi cut through the Atleti defence like a knife through butter when he played a perfect ball into the path of Neymar. The Brazilian made a great incisive run but failed to take the ball past Courtois, who then did extremely well to force Messi wide. With the ball still in play it was crossed back in, but Xavi failed to capitalize on Courtois slipping and the midfielder put it wide from only a couple of yards out.

After an hour of play Diego Simeone took off Adrián, who turned in his best performance of the season, for Diego and from that point on Atleti took control. Barcelona’s spirits faded as the Rojiblanco defence proved inpenetrable and Atleti started hurting the Culés on the counter. A number of opportunities were created, but Gabi missed 1-on-1 with Pinto and Tiago saw his shot blocked. At the other end Neymar headed just wide, while Diego Ribas nearly beat Pinto with a low drive.

Atleti’s confidence grew as the final whistle came closer, as the players and fans realized they were on the verge of qualifying for the semifinals. Cristian Rodríguez could’ve put the cherry on top of this fantastic performance, but his shot was saved by Pinto. It didn’t matter, as the 1-0 result was more than enough for Atleti to advance.

Atlético Barcelona
Atlético 1 0 Barcelona
Koke 6' 
Competition UEFA Champions League
Location Estadio Vicente Calderón
Date 09 April 2014
Kick Off 20:45 CET

Team Lineups

Atlético
Courtois
Juanfran
Miranda
Godín
Filipe
Raúl García
Gabi
Tiago
Koke
Adrián (62')
Villa (79')
Substitutes used
Diego (62')
C. Rodríguez (79')
Barcelona
Pinto
Alves
Bartra
Mascherano
Alba
Busquets
Xavi
Iniesta (72')
Messi
Fabregas (61')
Neymar
Substitutes used
Alexis (61')
Pedro (72')

Match Stats

Possession
3664
Shots
1210
On Target
52
Corners
67
Fouls
159
Yellow Cards
13
Red Cards
00
  • Colin Jones

    Magnificent result

  • Sam

    As the old adage goes, defense wins championships.

    And Koke helps too.

  • jeronamo

    so damn proud of every single one of our guys

    On to the next one

  • Kabir

    wheres that bitch GerardPique or whoever that always posts in here? i want to hear what he has to say.

  • Andres (Lolaya)

    Xavi is already complaining!HAHA! Next he will blame the pitch

  • Rojiblanco17

    I peed a little from happiness. This was absolutely fantastic.

  • KP

    Every player today have given a beastly performance and every single one of them deserved the victory and praise for their game but for me the special mentions would be to our midfield of Gabi (for his leadership and tirelessness throughout the game), Koke (for his aggression and of course his goal ;p) and Tiago (his anticipation and reading of the Barca passing game today has been spot on). The game was really intense to watch but seeing how our players handle the pressure well really given us hope for this season. Viva Atleti!

  • Abdullah Karam

    Auuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu ATLETI 🙂

  • Abdullah Karam

    Players , training Staff , Presedint , cameniro & my love Cholo THANKS ALOT … GOD BLESS YOUR SOULS ..
    I love you i love my team i love every fans of atleti ,,
    No talkin about the game or tactics just ENJOY the moment BROTHERS ..
    Aupa Atleti ,, del atleti soy
    I love u Atleti ♥️

  • Ahmad Hossainy

    To those who don’t know too much about Atleti and are wondering why are they so good despite their small budget and their not very strong bench, I say : if you have seen Simeone tonight hugging Adrian who is having a very very bad season and applauding Gabi after wasting a very important and very very easy chance, if you have seen that then you have got your answer

    in the 2 seasons Falcao was with us, I used to get very angry every time I read or hear someone says “Atletico is Falcao”,
    because that wasn’t true, and we proved that after his departure
    but now, I’m the first one to say “Atletico is Simeone”

    Since promotion to La Liga again in 2002, we have had many good players, we had squads as good as this one, maybe even better, but we never had a coach as good as Simeone
    Atleti & Simeone are meant to each other, and he is the one who we should fight very hard to keep, not Costa, not Arda, not Courtois .. but him

    ** I really like Howard Webb, and as a big fan of EPL, watching 5 or 6 games every week I honestly believe he is a very good ref .. that being said, I believe if Mr.Webb denied us at least one clear penalty so we will never win any penalty for what remains of this season of UCL

    just like Juanfran said about La Liga : nobody will give us anything

  • Rojiblanco17

    I want a Tiago tackle gif.

  • Alfien

    That struggle, that humility, that delivering, that solidarity, that intensity, that commitment, that team, that strategy, that atleti fans, that game by game, that decision, that faith, that illusion, that win win… and win… THIS IS ATLETI!!

  • jeronamo

    I remember last year (I can’t remember who said it) someone here said that malaga reaching the quarter finals was a huge accomplishment and that Atletico needed to do at least the same this year…. We’ve definitely gone and done even better, I’m really happy with the way our guys played, how ineffective Messi was kept and how much heart we put out on the field.

    I really hope we get Bayern because that’s another club that has been talked about as if its unbeatable, I just want to shut up some of the people saying we beat a mediocre barca who got lucky against city blah blah blah, same thing with milan. I want to us to beat bayern because there can be no excuses if we do

  • Kris

    Absolutely beautiful!! And look who shows up again, our VERY OWN Koke. Nobody else can claim him but Atleti.if I could hug him I would never let go!!!! Great great great player..

  • jeronamo
  • GERARD PIQUE THE KING

    We lost today because Pique wasn’t playing…

    Can you guys forgive me and let me support Atletico? Barcelona sucks.

  • valinia

    This game is EPIC n i got too excited tht i couldnt get back to sleep.. The boys played very well (including adrian who just needed a little bit of luck to score), n we hv clear advantage despite the absence of diego costa n arda. AUPA ATLETI!!

  • Alex21

    Hm…..Gerard Pique the King. hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha typical fair-weather shitty fan.

  • palc

    Hey guys. Is it true that we have to pay a hefty compensation to Chelsea if we were to play Courtois against them?

  • starvs

    Yes Rojiblanco17, everyone should have moistened themselves a bit wit joy, it was a truly fantastic game and result, although did get a little nervy towards the end.

    This is the exact moment I imaged when I started the #FREEKOKE campaign. Well, maybe not, but he’s fucking awesome and was awesome tonight.

    Ahmad is of course right, Cholo is the true piece that needs to be retained above all else (although Koke, Courtois, and Costa are all really great…). This team is much more than just one player as we showed tonight, not only did we miss Costa but Arda as well, and Diego didn’t start either…

    This may have been the stage Adrian needed to get back? He can’t play this good one game and then throw up some more bricks can he?

    I also like Howard Webb typically, but we had at least one ridic clear penalty (the Masch push).

  • Alfien

    After the ridiculous against Dormuntd “B”. Like Atlético fan I want to play against Real Madrid, is the weakest opponent. PALC, Courtois can not play against Chelsea. You pay 10 million.

  • Ahmad Hossainy

    @PALC : as reported by AS (which has no credibility with me), we have to pay 3 million per game if we want Courtois to play against Chelsea
    which means we have to pay them 6 million if we gonna play them in the semis, or just 3 million if we met them in the final, as it’s just one game
    also in AS, our president, Cerezo said that this number is big and we can not afford it, and will not pay it

    http://futbol.as.com/futbol/2014/04/10/champions/1397084247_449276.html

  • Will

    This is a bad news about 3 million per match.

    I watched the last 30 minutes and I really couldn’t count how many clearances Tiago did. Easily the best player in the last 1/3 of the match.

  • palc

    @ Will
    Tiago has been immense. His experience has been a true asset for the team. This guy is so hardworking and smart with the ball. Perfect for Cholos playing style.

    I am so glad that he has been preferred before Mario, because I really think Mario is our weakest player by far. He has some good traits, but often against the big guns, he seem to not know how to handle the pressure. Like last time against Madrd in the 2-2 game as well as the cup final. Idiotic and clumsy involvements lead to Madrid scoring.

  • Chewie

    I loved one of the Russian papers’ heading: “StreptoKoke’s Virus Kills Barcelona” – that’s exactly what happened 🙂

  • palc

    A pity about the Courtois thing.

    WIth regards to that, I would prefer Bayern for the semi-final. Im sick of playing Madrid, and with Aranzubia between the sticks against Chelsea it will surely lead to defeat.

    Bayern’s playings style would also fit Atletico’s very well. Just keep the pressure and intensity up while their playing their German tikitaka. Same recipe for success as against Barca I would presume.

  • Chewie

    If we can’t have Courtois, we better play someone else. And someone else better freaking eliminate Chelsea. WTF, can you even imagine Aranzubia playing for us? Hell no.

  • farhan

    ok anzurubia against chelsea ….hellll no…
    one pena

  • Ahmad Hossainy

    if we didn’t have Chelsea in the semis, I have no problem facing them in the final, because then we will have to pay just 3 million, and we would earn extra 6.5 million if we lost, or 10.5 if we won the title, so, in that case, 3 million will be worth paying
    put paying 6 million in the semifinal with a possibility of losing and getting no more money is a risk we can not take with our limited resources

    anyway, let’s stop thinking about this and enjoy our win, then we will see what happens on Friday

  • ali_

    i wonder if theres a connection between koke’s name (resurrección) , and our play since he is in our squad. he is truly one of the players who have a big part in our resurrection.

  • Ali

    This is the second time I cried like a baby after a football match but this time I cried because of happiness! The first time I cried after a football match was in 2010 when Ghana were eliminated by uruguay in World Cup.. At that time I was a big fan of forlan but I really want ghana to go through..

  • layibiyi

    Congrats my Atletico Brethren, There isn’t a more preferable team I would have preferred Barca go out to. We were most likely not going to win the trophy with the current state of our team.

    That said, you guys were superior in almost every category. Barca has basically no excuses (excuse the usual xavi jibe). Many outsiders would probably attach your success to Diego Costa, but he played a total of about 10 meaningful mins over both legs. That should say something.

    Congrats again.

  • Pantic#10

    @Layibiyi:
    You words make you honor.

    If both Atleti and Barca will have only 1 point of difference at the last day of the season…that will be another clash of the titans!

  • Will

    @Layibiyi,

    I’d say the same. There isn’t a more preferable team I would have preferred Atleti go out to. And, in La liga, we still want to win (of course). But if we can’t get to it, please, take to trophy to Camp Nou.

  • piserakos

    I was so busy yesterday and i couldn’t write a comment!
    We were FANTASTIC! This is Atleti i wan’t to see and if you remember this is the first time this year we saw this team. Most of the games (derbys) we were all back and fighting for keeping a clean sheet. Not yesterday, we attacked and we fought like really men! I told many time our best players are our canteraños (gabi, koke) and if we want to keep being at the top top level we should trust more and more players from our academy! Cholo is the best… I wasn’t the only one who told that the last game of Adrían was with Villareal, but no i take it back! I’m so happy Costa was injured cause we saw the old good Adri back! Keep that way mate.. We have one more world class player…
    Any way Barca’s fans so really respect to our team and that honours them… I think that last day at Camp Nou we will need a draw or a win and we will get it… But as i told it many times if we can’t win it and it is between Barca and Real then i would happily give it to Barca…

  • piserakos

    Oh by the way… With some friend we are organasing a trip to Lisbon and if Atleti goes to the final then we would be there… You are all welcome to join us!

  • MR

    Barca players just can’t stop giving the ball to Tiago… It’s like a wall in one person.
    I just finished the match 2nd time, next time I will count properly but I think Tiago did 20+ tackles and 10+ interceptions (not to mention his fine passes and skills on the ball).
    This team is unbelievable.
    Vamos Atleti

  • MR

    Guys you shouldn’t be afraid of Aranzubia, everyone who follows la Liga for a longer time knows that he is far from being a bad goalkeeper. He played many many good seasons with Athletic and also Depor. Actually I think he could still be a starter for most la Liga teams, Barca for sure…
    Almeria game was a disater for him, but without any playing time I was not very surprised with that.
    If we draw Chelsea than Cholo should give him a start in the league before the CL match to get him match fit, and he will be fine (naturally he won’t have any work with our fantastic four in the backline)

  • Atletico9

    Dont talk about that Almeria game. Then i cant sleep tonight. We could use those 3 points now!

    Anyway…

    Silvio broke his leg after 37 sekunds in tonights game where Salvio was brilliant.

    Good night for Spanish football with amazing comebacks for Sevilla and Valencia. Also good news for Atleti because we are going to Mestalla between Valencias EL semis. They will be tired and maybe rest players.

    Forza Atleti – we are going for the double.

  • Ali

    Silvio pereira has season ending injury. Pray for our loan star!!!! Hopefully he will comeback stronger next season and can be good 2nd choice left back to filipe…

  • Ali

    And between did you guys know that rakitic praises atletico and sevilla!! Hopefully he will join us next season instead of going to our money bitches neighbours…

  • kris

    Animo Periera!

  • kris

    *ANIMO Silvio PEREIRA!

  • ali_

    ALI: silvio is a right back. i think he wont have a chance here. we have juanfran and cholo should start to build in manquillo.

  • Ali

    @other ali he’s left back in my fifa 14!!!!

  • ali_

    its a game. they are wrong. he is a right back.
    atletico – chelsea is the UCL draw…

  • ali_
  • pantic#10

    Chelsea.
    Aranzubia! MOTM 😉

  • farhan

    anzurubia………………….helll………….cmon dafuq

  • Chewie

    Silvio’s primary position is right wing but he also can play in the left.
    Well, Aranzubia, it’s time to turn the clock back and make a solid performance.

  • Gechi

    Hey Guys.
    Don’t worry, UEFA just canceled that fucked up clause for Courtois.
    So it’s on now !!
    Aupa Atleti

  • ali_
  • farhan

    he will play 🙂

  • farhan

    auppppppppppppppppppppppppppaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
    ATLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiii

  • Ash

    Good draw by Figo

  • Ali

    There are two reasons why we can easily make it to the final…
    1) chelsea fans are fucking idiots they hardly make any noise inside stamford bridge.. Atmosphere at stamford bridge is usually quiet…
    2) and the big reason they play without striker.. And half of chelsea defense and midfield players are above 32. They hardly run and when we press higher they will give possession easily..

  • Ahmad Hossainy

    Well, if we knew before the draw that Courtois can play (and without paying any thing), I believe most of Atleti fans would have picked Chelsea
    They are the weakest team of the 3, we are tired of playing against Real Madrid, and against them, it’s not just football,
    and we only want Bayern in the final to take our revenge for “La Casi” .. that damned 1974 final

    Earlier this season, Atleti signed Demichelis from Qatari Malaga for free, then sold him after 2 weeks to Emirati Man City for 5 million
    and now we discovered that we signed Courtois’ contract with Russian Chelsea then complained about it to UEFA,
    who disallowed that clause

    maybe those idiots have money .. but only money !

    on the other hand, we have to admit that we have a genius sporting management .. led by Caminero

    THE MANZANARES RIVER ENDS IN LISBON

  • Chewie

    Wow, if Thibaut plays for us than Chelsea’s done for sure. We should get some “I ❤ UEFA” shirts.

  • Chewie

    And praise Caminero as well.

  • Urban

    Guys im a lawer by profession and I must say it is more complicated. Although my area of expertise is not UEFA regulations I see serious doubts. Firstly, the problem is now whether TC can play or not but whether we will have to pay if he plays, and the UEFA statement does not address this issue directly.

    I do not know which law governs the atleti-chelsea agreement and which tribunal is competent to solve possible disputes, and we also do not know the exact terms of the contract, but so does FIFA and the press and without that you just cant make any firm statements on this.

    UEFA may disregard the contractual clause, but I am not sure how can this help us if we are for example sued by Chelsea for payment. I imagine that if it is some arbitration tribunal of UEFA we are pretty safe, but if it is some kind of common or business court than…

    Either way I am sure both sides will make some lawyers very busy over the next few days.

  • Jeronamo

    Ahmad you made a muntari statement… take it back pleeeeease

  • Brad

    I think those would be the first “I <3 UEFA"

  • Brad

    shirts

  • starvs

    I’m still not convinced about Courtois being able to play…not gonna get my hopes up until I see it…

  • Brad

    UEFA released a statement saying: “Both the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations contain clear provisions which strictly forbid any club to exert, or attempt to exert, any influence whatsoever over the players that another club may [or may not] field in a match.”

    “It follows that any provision in a private contract between clubs which might function in such a way as to influence who a club fields in a match is null, void and unenforceable so far as UEFA is concerned.

    “Furthermore, any attempt to enforce such a provision would be a clear violation of both the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations and would therefore be sanctioned accordingly.”

  • Urban

    But still what is this statement? It is not a law. The law is the contract and the law that governs it. Be it English law, Spanish law, maybe some kind of UEFA regulations??? Dunno.

  • Kris

    I am not convinced either. If the contract clearly states we would have to pay 6 million to let Thibu play against his parent club in the Champions League, then it is hard to break a written contract that’s signed by us. Remember Chelsea is owned by a billionaire and probably have the best of lawyers, if the fee is not paid and we field Courtois to play against them, it could mean suing and us having to pay as much as triple the amount we’d have to pay to field Thibu. I just hope UEFA, Chelsea, and Atletico work all this out thoroughly and don’t have to go to courts for this situation. I still quite don’t understand UEFA’S statement on their website.

    Yehh, and guys, we should approach every game with humility. Chelsea have mastermind Mourinho and they just overcame a 3-1 deficit to advance to the semis. They are probably just as good as Barca. No understatement of any club please…

  • Ahmad Hossainy

    @Jeronamo : I knew some of you would say that, but I will not take it back, because unlike Muntari’s statement, this one is true, after watching about 50 games for each one of the 3 teams

    and even if I took it back, I will still pick Chelsea, because facing Real Madrid is very difficult, very complicated and very annoying .. we would have been under fire from AS and MARCA by their rumors and false news until the tie ends
    we would have heard that Real signed Costa, Courtois, Arda & Koke, as those bastards used to report before every derby

    while Bayern, well, it will be like a beautiful dream to meet them in the final and win the title after 40 years of Brussels twice-played final when Aragones and his brothers were few seconds away from lifting that glorious trophy,
    it will be the best thing we give to Luis soul .. in the very year he died
    it will be legen- … wait for it … -dary !!

    But I never said we are favorite, never said Chelsea are easy, in fact it will be a very difficult game, a nail-biter one
    it will be a 50-50 tie .. but I think our chances against the other 2 are less than that, especially after we saw what Howard Webb -the best ref in the world- did to us against Barca

  • Brad

    Contracts aren’t law. They are governed by law. So since UEFA is the governing body of European Football federations, I think at least international contracts would be governed at least in part by UEFA.

  • Ahmad Hossainy

    Guys, why are you complicating things, UEFA statement is very easy and very clear

    http://www.uefa.org/about-uefa/administration/news/newsid=2088774.html

    @Urban, I’m not a lawyer like you, but I know few things about law, one of them is :
    an illegal condition in a contract is still illegal even if the 2 parties agreed to it

    in what official competitions could Atleti & Chelsea meet ?
    only in UEFA’s competitions
    and UEFA said this condition is null .. so it is null

    just read the last 2 lines in the statement :

    “Furthermore, any attempt to enforce such a provision would be a clear violation of both the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations and would therefore be sanctioned accordingly.”

  • Urban

    @Ahmad

    In principle I agree with you, but why are you so convinced that UEFA is to decide which provisions of the contract is illegal or not? For me it is not clear. I am not ruling out that UEFAs interpretation will be binding, but I’m just not sure and I think this is yet to be clarified.

    The sentence you cited I understand in such manner that in case Chelsea sues us to pay the clause in case TC plays UEFA will put sanctions on Chelsea, but even if this is the case I still have doubts if we would let TC play and risk being sued, even if Chalsea was to be sanctioned for that

  • Kaminero

    It could also be that the formal loan contract says nothing about Courtois playing against Chelsea, but there’s a so-called gentlemen’s agreement about it. If we violate it, we won’t go to court, but relations with Chelsea will be frozen and our credibility in the player market will take a hit.

  • Brad

    Well it could be worse than frozen relations with chelsea. It looks like they won’t let us by Courtois and we could still sell Costa to the highest bidder during the summer…or hold on to him, which would be even better!

  • Ahmad Hossainy

    @Urban
    1- UEFA is the one who decide because it’s the governing body of European football, to which this case is related

    2- Chelsea can not sue us, because we didn’t refuse to pay, but UEFA told us not to, so if they are going to sue someone it would be UEFA, not Atleti
    and I must add that we did not even ask UEFA for this, we did not send a request or a complain (as I mistakenly mentioned in an earlier comment) it was -and I quote from UEFA statement- : “in response to media reports”

    3- Personally, I don’t think Chelsea will sue us even if they can, not with their desire to sign several players from us, either now or in the future
    they won’t risk their relationship with a seller and talent-producing club like us

    and that last point “relationship” is what all British media talking about right now, but in the opposite direction
    they are talking about that Atleti could not line up Courtois against Chelsea even if they are allowed, so they don’t ruin the “good relationship” between the two clubs, especially that Atleti want to loan Courtois for one more season

    but I say fuck the relationships, we have a big and rare opportunity to win the champions league, so let’s not waste it

    we all know what will happen next season, we may sell one or two key players, while the 7 riches club in Europe -except Barca for their ban- will spend together not less than half a billion on new players
    just like Dortmund, with our budget we can not reach UCL final or even semi final every season

    so, – unlike my friend Kaminero- I believe Chelsea are the ones who need good relationship with us, not the other way around

    Please, let’s enjoy the moment, let’s stop being sceptical and let’s just dream about our first “La Orejona”

  • Jeronamo

    I agree with Ahmad… fuck relationships, it’s better to live and play for the here and now instead of worrying about next season. If Courtouis leaves it’s not the end of the world imo, I believe someone just as good or unlikely better will surface as has continually hhappened throughout the years. But first I also believe we have a game this weekend to concentrate on if I’m not mistaken

  • Ali
  • piserakos

    Let’s agree with Ahmad… By the way he is not the trully ahmad the last months, i believe it is another man… Where is the Ahmad we used to know man?
    Yes i think Chelsea is the best opponent, i didn’t wanted them cause without Courtois it would be a dessaster… But now i’m so happy with the draw, UEFA is UEFA, no one can say them anything! They clearly said that Courtois will play and will play for free… So he will! I don’t care about the relationships with Chelsea and with any other team… Why we should care with our relationship? They don’t sell to us Courtois with a reasonable price, cause of the stupid Madridista Mourinho. So i don’t really care… They even don’t let Torres come to us, they try to sell him to Inter! So i say f*ck Chelsea! We will beat them and we will be at Lisbon! By the way guys who will come to Portugal? I started searching for tickets and i will be there!

  • Farzad from Iran

    I heard that courtois wont play against chelsea,,Its true???costa when will come back again???