Atlético de Madrid were made to work for their spot in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals, as Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday played much more like a team that has a higher market value than and nearly the same wage bill as their opponents.
Spurs won a frantic match at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, putting plenty of pressure on Atlético and running their home unbeaten streak in Europe to 25 games. But Diego Simeone’s men hit back when needed, as goals from Julián Alvarez and Dávid Hancko were enough
for the Colchoneros to qualify for their second Champions League quarterfinal in three seasons.
Let’s get into the takeaways from a weird game in North London.
Alvarez hits the “superstar mode” button
Three-hundred and seventy-two days ago, Alvarez was left shocked when overzealous VAR official Tomasz Kwiatkowski thought he had touched the ball twice in his run-up to take a penalty in the round of 16 against Real Madrid. An incorrect application of the rule from referee Szymon Marciniak saw Alvarez’s penalty ruled out, and Marcos Llorente’s miss later in the shootout condemned Atlético to a heartbreaking aggregate defeat.
One year later, on his 100th appearance for the club, Alvarez contributed to five of Atleti’s seven goals in the tie against Spurs, staking his claim once more as one of the world’s most complete forwards.
For his well-taken goal on Wednesday, he won the ball off Xavi Simons and took off in a dead sprint from the edge of his penalty area; Ademola Lookman supplied the final pass for his first goal contribution this month as Alvarez swiveled and stuck a venomous shot past Guglielmo Vicario. With 15 minutes remaining, Hancko turned in Alvarez’s corner at Vicario’s near post after he cleverly jinked past three Spurs defenders.
Alvarez has eight goals and four assists in the Champions League this season — the most combined goals and assists an Atleti player has accrued in a single UCL campaign. He has scored six goals and provided three assists in his past 11 games; in his previous 11 games, he registered a single assist, appearing physically and mentally checked out.
By the time the Champions League is whittled down to eight teams, the stars are often deciding ties instead of systems. This version of Alvarez is Atlético’s best player — a forward who scores goals, sets up teammates, leads the press and runs nine miles a game. If he brings this vein of form into April, Atleti absolutely can reach their first European semifinal in eight years.
Individual errors galore
The aggregate result obviously is good enough, but we have to talk about the individual mistakes that Atlético will have to clean up if they are to win their first trophy for five years.
Atleti largely had the match under control in the first 15 minutes, but once Spurs’ pressing improved, the visitors were hemmed in and especially struggled to close down attacks on their right side — where Nahuel Molina and Robin Le Normand started, with Marc Pubill named to the bench but in reality unavailable due to a rib injury.
For Randal Kolo Muani’s 30th-minute goal, Matteo Ruggeri played an ill-advised short pass to a pressured Hancko, who lost the ball for a throw-in. The throw was quickly taken, and Mathys Tel found himself with time to cross as Lookman was late to press him. Le Normand knew Tel had crossed the ball, but he didn’t look around to notice Kolo Muani lurking, unmarked, next to him. Juan Musso never moved as the Frenchman headed home.
On Simons’ 52nd-minute goal, Giuliano Simeone played a blind pass from the boundary, ostensibly intended for Johnny Cardoso. Archie Gray swiftly intercepted the ball and led a blistering counter that produced Simons’ ripper of a shot from outside the box, the rapidly-backpedaling defense again leaving Musso no chance.
Simons keyed Spurs’ winner too, when he played a one-two with lively substitute Callum Olusesi, carried the ball into the box past Koke and forced a late lunge from Josema Giménez, two minutes after the Uruguayan had entered the match. Referee Daniel Siebert instantly pointed to the spot, and Simons lashed the penalty in off the post to complete his man-of-the-match performance.
In short: too many mistakes, from too many individuals, that a big first-leg advantage masked. Cholo Simeone will be keen to refocus his players, starting this Sunday against Real Madrid.
Eight times in 13 years
Even still, Wednesday marked Atlético’s eighth time reaching the Champions League quarterfinals in the past 13 editions. In that span, only Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona have made the last eight more frequently than Atleti.
It’s yet another feather in the cap of Diego Simeone. Here he remains, guiding the Colchoneros into the Copa del Rey final (by dispatching Barcelona) in addition to the upcoming quarterfinal of this competition (against Barcelona). The best thing that can be said about Simeone is that he has made this a regular occurrence, if not an expectation: before he returned to the club as head coach, Atleti had reached the European Cup/Champions League quarterfinals five times…in 56 years. The sprawling Ciudad del Deporte project doesn’t happen without this consistent revenue generation, and Apollo Sports Capital doesn’t agree to purchase 55 percent of the club for €2.5 billion without the Sports City.
This Atleti team — with only seven players remaining from the 2024 side that beat Inter Milan at this stage — is volatile, inconsistent and pathologically unable to keep a clean sheet in the Champions League. But it sure is exciting to watch: Atleti have scored 31 goals in this UCL campaign, a club record, and 92 across all competitions. And unless they become clean sheet merchants again overnight, Simeone’s men will need to keep scoring, because their fixture list over the next month is hellish.
It features the Madrid Derby on Sunday and three meetings with Barça between April 4 and April 14. Three days after the Champions League quarterfinal second leg, Atlético head to Sevilla’s Estadio de La Cartuja to play Real Sociedad in the Copa del Rey final — the season’s biggest game, with a trophy directly at stake.
Atlético did not survive a similar stretch of games last season: a visit to Getafe sandwiched in between two legs against Real Madrid, a league game against Barça followed by a cup semifinal return leg against the Blaugrana. Atleti lost four of those games and saw their silverware chances dissipate completely.
This year, we’ll find out what the Rojiblancos learned from that traumatic experience and whether it has made them strong enough to eliminate Barça from the Champions League for the third time and lift a cup in Seville next month.
