No one should expect a repeat of Liverpool’s heroics against Barcelona when Atletico Madrid arrive at Anfield. It’ll be a very different game.
Liverpool shocked absolutely everybody when they won 4-0 against Barcelona last season. They’d lost the first leg 3-0, after all, and needed four without conceding.
And yet, somehow, they did it. They kept out Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez and put four past the Spanish champions.
It’s easy, therefore, to hark back to that in anticipation of Atletico Madrid’s visit. Diego Simeone’s side also beat Liverpool at home – 1-0 in Madrid – and will defend their lead on March 11th.
But this won’t be a repeat of the Barcelona clash and Atletico will be a different beast at Anfield. For one thing, they know how to defend.
Barcelona really didn’t. Liverpool put them firmly on the backfoot and the Catalonians simply didn’t know how to react. Do they push back at Liverpool? Do they tighten up? No one knew and the Reds took advantage.
Because, quite simply, no one had done that to Barcelona before. Certainly not for a very long time. That’s definitely not the cast with Atletico.
They might struggle to score goals but Simeone has them defending properly. We saw it on Tuesday, in fact, as they decided they were taking a 1-0 win after five minutes.
This is a side that knows how to defend a lead and no knows that they can do it against Liverpool. They’ll try it again at Anfield and everyone can expect them to sit back in a very compact shape. The Reds will struggle to score.
As Simeone said after the game (per MaxiFoot):
“When you work as a team, in a block, you can do whatever you want. It’s not the best party ever because we didn’t win a trophy.
”Don’t forget. The best team in the world came here, and we beat it.”
And so the return leg isn’t the same as it was against Barcelona. It won’t be about passion and drive and magic. Instead, it’ll be 90 minutes of Liverpool figuring out how to break down a resolute defence.
That’s not to say we can’t have another memorable Anfield night, of course. But this will be a very different test.
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