“Hola Bucarest: Atlético Madrid defeats Valencia to advance to the Europa League Finals”

Valencia 0:1 Atlético Madrid

(60’ Adrian)

Ay Dios Mio! This has been quite a dramatic week in the football world.  There was Torres’ shocking goal to put Chelsea through to the Champion’s league, and the shootout between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. This game did not fail to disappoint, further adding to the drama with a bit of a spat in the second half.  Atleti came into the game ahead two goals on aggregate, and they managed to hold Valencia off and score a goal for themselves.

The first half, however, was a struggle for Atléti. Valenica was hungry for a goal and they continually put pressure on Atléti.  Jordi Alba and Canales were making Atléti sweat as they fired shot after shot in attempts to even the score. The saving grace for Atléti: Thibaut Courtois. Things could have gone downhill fast for Los Colchoneros without him. He continually shut down Valencia making some absolutely amazing diving saves.  Atléti had a few decent shots on net, but the first half was much more defensive than offensive.  However, their defense played strong and they ended the half 0-0.

 

The second half started off the same way the first ended, Valencia was still trying ever so hard for a goal, but just couldn’t seem to find the back of the net.  However in the 60^th minute, Atléti‘s offense finally showed up to the game. Diego sent a long ball down the field and Adrian was there to expertly trap the ball with his chest. After the ball bounced to the ground, he quickly fired a beautiful shot into the top left corner of the net. Alves had no chance saving that one. Afterward, Valencia seemed to have lost hope. At that point, they would have had to score three goals to still advance to the Europa finals.

Adrian’s goal gave Atléti the momentum they needed to move the action to the other half, testing Valencia’s defense.  Things got real interesting around the 77^th minute, Valencia crossed the ball to the center and Atléti’s Tiago jumped up in attempts to head the ball away.  In the process, he accidentally touched the ball with his hands. At first the referee didn’t see the handball, but called it less than a minute later. Tiago was not happy with the call and he immediately began arguing with the referee. Soon players from both teams had formed a crowd around the referee, yelling and jostling each other. Then, Jordi Alba shoved Tiago who responded by pushing Jordi to the ground. This caused Roberto Soldado to step up against Tiago, though both were held back by their teammates. Finally, the referee gave Tiago a red card, ending the match for the Portuguese midfielder.  Also, Jordi Alba and Soldado both received yellow cards. 

Despite Tiago’s expulsion from the game, Atlético de Madrid held their lead until the end, earning them a well-deserved trip to Bucharest! There they will face fellow rivals, Athletic Bilbao, on Wednesday May 9th. Not too long ago, Atléti beat Bilbao at the Vicente Calderon in a La Liga match. Of course Bilbao will be looking for revenge so it’s sure to be a great match.

Next match:  Atlético de Madrid v Real Sociedad at 11:00AM CT

written by Donais Deetz