Preview: FC Barcelona v Atletico de Madrid

Tonight’s game between Atletico de Madrid and FC Barcelona is understood by many like a showdown between Sergio Agüero and Lionel Messi, the two most in-form strikers of La Liga.

Only three days after both Argentineans led their teams to respective Champions League triumphs, Agüero takes Atletico to face Messi and FC Barcelona at the Camp Nou stadium (10 pm).

Agüero scored a top class goal on Wednesday in the 2-1 win against Marseille to keep Atletico’s dreamt start in the Champions League. Messi came on in the second half and scored both goals – including the injury-time winner – in Barcelona’s 2-1 win at Shakhtar Donetsk.

Aguirre has warned already that Agüero can’t fully performed as he’s carrying and ankle knock and he hasn’t been given any rest in the first games of the season.

“I’m tired,” the 20-year-old Aguero told reporters after the victory over Marseille. “And it’s a difficult game. But it’s Barcelona.”

From his part, Messi was rested ahead of the Shakhtar match due to fatigue, with both players not having had much of a break since leading Argentina to gold at the Olympics.

But that won’t stop either from playing on Saturday.

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Atletico de Madrid 2 – Marseille 1: Giant Step Forward

Sergio Agüero led the second Atletico de Madrid win in two Group D appearances with a 2-1 victory over Olympique de Marseille as the UEFA Champions League made a triumphant return to the Vicente Calderón after 12 years. The Argentinean took just four minutes to show his endless class with a world class opener and although Mamadou Niang equalised soon after, Raúl García scored the winner midway through the first half.

Atletico de Madrid v Marseille Preview

Atletico de Madrid hope to overcome the disappointment from last Sunday by achieving the second victory in the Champions League against Marseille.

It seems that Atletico are not coming in their best moment after losing to Sevilla 1-0 and after injuries and fatigue caught up with Aguirre’s team. Now Atletico are facing their toughest month in October, including league games against FC Barcelona and Real Madrid.

“We have to go out with the same attitude that we had before playing PSV Eindhoven, which is to go out and play football,” Aguirre said. “We’re at home and that’s something to take into account.”

Aguirre will be able to count with Heitinga, but fellow defenders Seitaridis and Pablo Ibañez are out after picking up knocks against Sevilla, while midfielder Maniche hasn’t recovered from the back injury that he picked in Getafe.

Striker Diego Forlan and forward Simao Sabrosa are missing due to injury, and their absence has deprived Aguero of adequate rest after a lengthy summer.

Aguirre conceded that he may have to field an untested team, but The ‘Vasco’ hopes the circumstances will serve to motivate his team.

“It’s true we have various players out to injury and (Ever) Banega left the Sevilla match with an ankle injury, but this is a Champions League game and that cures everything. The players are very motivated,” Aguirre said.

From their part, Marseille must get a result or risk damaging its chances of getting out of the group.

“We’re obliged to get a result and we’re going for that since we started the competition badly,” Niang said. “We have to catch up, whether it be at Madrid, PSV or Liverpool. We know it won’t be easy because Atletico Madrid is a team in form at the moment.”

Atletico deny contacts for Agüero

Kun Agüero will stay in Atletico, says Aguirre

Atlético Madrid coach Javier Aguirre commented on the news linking Sergio Agüero with Manchester City. The Mexican said that the Argentinian is happy at Atlético and will fulfill his contract.

“On the subject of him possibly leaving, he has a contract here, he is happy here and I’m sure that he is going to want to stay,” said Aguirre. “Sergio, I truly believe, is going to do very good things here.”

Machester City sent scouts to watch the Argentinean play for Atlético against Getafe on Wednesday night. Agüero’s contract still has four years left to run and has a €60m buy-out clause. That figure was set to deter potential buyers after the player’s £16m move from Independiente in 2006, but would not provide a significant hurdle to City’s new owners. Atletico were reported to reject a €35 million offer from Chelsea last summer, which was the main reason why the club increased the buy-out clause from €55m to €60m later this year.

Other reports link Kun Agüero with Inter Milan, after his father in law, Diego Maradona, has signed with Internazionale as sports director. 

Simao out for 3 weeks

Atlético Madrid’s victory against Getafe came at a high cost as both Maniche and Simao left the field injured….

Atlético Madrid won’t be able to cout with Forlan and Simao for the crucial next games against Sevilla, Marseille, Barcelona potentially Liverpool.

Simao was confirmed to have twisted his knee in the game against Getafe and will be out for around three weeks. Maniche on the other hand will probably only miss the Sevilla match whilst Forlán is known to be out for around another three weeks too.

However, we should feel optimistic as so far Aguirre has rotated the team quite successfully so far this season. Probably Maniche’s absence will be covered by Raul García or even Banega, whilst Simao will be replaced by Luis García, who has performed very good against PSV and Recreativo.

Los Rojiblancos have been one of the in-form sides of the season so far, beating both Recreativo and Málaga by four goals to nil and then beating Getafe 2-1. That latest win means that they currently sit third in the league behind Villarreal and rivals Real Madrid.

Preview – Getafe v Atletico de Madrid

Getafe will try to find a way to stop the crack Kun Agüero in their clash against Atletico de Madrid tomorrow night. The Argentinean has, no doubt, lead Atletico in their four crushing victories in their last five matches in all competitions, where they have scored 16 and conceded just two, in the 2-1 defeat away to Valladolid (Agüero didn’t start that game after returning late from playing with the Argentina squad earlier that week).

However, Javier Aguirre is obtaining a good performing out the entire team, with a very solid defense, an outstanding Maniche in the midfield, two explosive wings and the most feared pair of strikers in La Liga.

“Agüero is very mature for his age and is starting to fulfil expectations. But it isn’t just Agüero, it is the whole of Atletico that give you cause for concern,” Getafe striker Manu del Moral said of his former club.

Atletico are offering a good performing at the start of the season, with a clear victory in the Champions League and keeping their eye on the ball in the domestic competition. They trashed Recreativo Huelva 4-0 on Saturday.

However, Getafe won’t put things easy, as they are unbeaten with five points from three games, one behind their near neighbours Atletico.

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Atletico 4 – Recreativo de Huelva 0

Atletico de Madrid ended a magical week with another triumph. After winning PSV Eindhoven last Tuesday, the fans enjoyed another 4-0 victory at the Estadio Vicente Calderon for the third time in as many games.

Again Agüero

Confidence was up in Javier Aguirre’s squad after FC Schalke 04 and Málaga CF had both suffered four-goal reverses in the Spanish capital this season and Sergio Agüero, who scored twice in the 0-3 win in the Netherlands on Tuesday, opened the tab against Recreativo de Huelva after eight minutes.

‘Pichichi’ Pongolle

Maniche doubled their advantage on 53 minutes with a low right-footed shot inside the near post from 20 metres after the visitors had failed to clear a corner, and that sparked a period of even better football from the hosts. Miguel de las Cuevas ran the left wing and gave a great pass back for Sinama Pongolle to make the 3-0 against the side he departed in the summer (he didn’t celebrate the goals). But the best action of the game was yet to come. Banega gave a 40 meters pass that Luis Garcia prolonged to Sinama who, after a stylist move faced the keeper and scored.

Enjoy the highlights:

Forlan on the side-line for a month

After leaving the pitch in the 29th minute of Atlético Madrid’s victory over PSV Eindhoven Diego Forlan will now face at least 3-4 weeks on the sidelines…

Happiness wasn’t complete last night among Alteti squad and fans. Even after a superb victory over PSV we can’t be totally satisfied. Javier Aguirre expressed it this way:

“We are not completely happy because of the injury to Forlan. We hope that he is not out for long and that he recovers soon because he is an important player for the team,” explained the manager.

The Uruguayan striker didn’t join the squad to face Valladolid at last weekend after returning from international duty late and he will now miss Atlético’s next Champions League game against Marseille as well as league encounters.

The injury occurred in the 27th minute when Forlan was running after a long ball and from the beginning it was believed that he may have punctured a muscle in his right leg. The news means that Aguirre will have to rely on Sinama Pongolle upfront alongside Sergio Agüero for the next month or so.

The injury will be re-assessed on Wednesday when it will be revealed what the full extent of the damage is and the likely lay-off period.

Agüero is from another galaxy

Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero showed what he’s capable of to the whole of Europe by scoring the very first goal of this year’s tournament and adding a second magnificent goal in Atleti’s win over a PSV

Champions League winners PSV Eindhoven were couldn’t stop a very inspired Sergio Agüero that lead Atlético Madrid in the Philips Stadion on Tuesday night as the Spanish team ran out 3-0 winners in this Group D opening clash.

The game, which was predicted to be an even affair, turned out to be completely controlled by the Spanish side, who showed not to be nervous on their return to the competition after an eleven-year absence.

Their creativity and flair was simply too much for the Dutch champions on the night and two goals from Agüero in the first half followed by a lone Maniche strike after half time meant Javier Aguirre will be smiling all the way back to Madrid.

PSV EINDHOVEN 0-3 ATLÉTICO MADRID

0-1 Sergio Agüero 9′

0-2 Sergio Agüero 36′

0-3 Maniche 54′

PSV: Isaksson, Salcido, Brechet (74` Rodríguez), Marcellis, Pieters, Simmons, E. Méndez, Afellay (70` Lazovic), Cullina (46` Bakkal), Amrabat, Koevermans

Atlético Madrid: Leo Franco, Perea, Ujfalusi, Heitinga, Antonio López, Paulo Assunçao, Maniche (65` Banega), Luis García, Simao, Forlán (31` Pongolle), Agüero (62` Raúl García)

Bookings: Brechet 40′, Méndez 47′ – Paulo Assunçao 25′, Perea 86′

Valladolid v Atletico: FIFA virus kills Atletico

It couldn’t be. Atletico showed what we feared since the beginning of the season: The team isn’t deep enough. During some moments of the game it actually seemed that the team is just Kun Agüero and 10 more. It’s clear that without Forlan and especially Agüero, the team is goaless.

Real Valladolid played an intelligent game, even when after 20 min. their player Pedro Gomez was sent off, when Valladolid was winning 1-0.

Only in the second half, and only through Agüero, Atletico seemed to have any chances to draw the game, but finally Agüero’s goal (min. 54) wasn’t enough to equalise the game. Let’s hope that the players’ minds were in the Champions League game against PSV on Wed.