By Telema Davies
The ‘Road to Lisbon’, has finally produced the best two teams to come through in two days of football craze. It’s an unprecedented occurrence, historically, to have one city having two representations in the final of the UEFA Champions League. An all Spanish affair between two Madrid clubs offers a mouthwatering clash given the current form and rivalry in-between them. On the heels of an all German face-off at Wembley, nothing comes close to such a showdown on the 24th of May, as Lisbon beckons.
Bus Crash at Stamford Bridge
Jose Mourinho turned up for this game as the master tactician after his side crashed in on Liverpool’s league title hopes. Brendan Rodgers had in his post-match conference accused his opposite, Mourinho, of packing “two buses” at Anfield last Sunday. The self-proclaimed ‘Happy One’ was very much in the awareness that a repeat against visiting Atletico Madrid was a risky bet. On the return leg of a double header fixture, Chelsea Football Club was to learn a bitter lesson on the night.
Atletico Madrid almost nicked it early in the 4th minute of the game with Koke almost scoring a wonder goal. In the 23rd minute, David Luis went for goal with the spectacular, missing by a margin with a bicycle kick. It wasn’t until the 34th minute after a Willian brilliance falling to Azpillucueta who found Fernando Torres with a low pass. The Chelsea forward slotted his fourth goal of the campaign with a deflection off the leg of a Madrid defender. Torres refused to celebrate his goal against his boyhood club.
La Rojiblancos were fired up afterwards as they equalized in the 44th minute through Adrian Lopez from close range. It was just the lifeline needed by the Madrid team on their return from the interval for the second half. The initiative and indeed the momentum, was on the side of Diego Simeone’s wards when star striker, Diego Costa was brought down in the area by his opposite, Samuel Eto’o. The power forward, who’s been prolific, picked himself up to send Mark Schwarzer the wrong way from the spot.
Chelsea was visibly shaken by the untiring performance of the Rojiblancos and Jose Mourinho looked bemused from the touchlines. Then the red and white side of Madrid, unbeaten in eight games in the current campaign, struck the killer. A looping cutback allowed an Arda Turan to head in for goal but it struck the upright and fell favourably for a return to Turan, who calmly tucked in to convincingly send the Rojiblancos to Lisbon for their first final in 40 years setting up a grand finale with Real Madrid.
The encounter between both Madrid clubs in the UEFA Champions League will be the fifth meet this season. Previous clashes were feisty and competitively entertaining with both sides claiming the scalp off each other. Four meets between the Madrid rivals have produced one draw, three victories – one for Atletico Madrid in La Liga and two for Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey.
Image source: uefa.com