This year's UEFA Champions League final will be an installment of what they call in Madrid, “El Derbi Madrileno,” after Atlético Madrid beat Chelsea 3-1 (3-1 aggregate) earning their spot in Lisbon to take on La Liga and city rival, Real Madrid.
With six defenders in the line up, it seemed Jose Mourinho’s side was going to stick with their defensive approach. Atlético had some early chances, but Chelsea struck first on a Cesar Azpilicueta cross which was buried by Fernando Torres, who refused to celebrate against his former club.
After that, we expected to see the “park the bus” mentality that Chelsea has used to frustrate teams in the past, but unorganized and sloppy defending in the latter stages of the first half brought problems. Ashely Cole drifted from the middle, and failed to clear out Juanfran’s cross, and Atlético’s found their away goal.
Both clubs had good chances out of the break, but both were handled brilliantly by their keepers. Mourinho knew he needed offense and brought on Samuel Eto’o for the struggling Ashley Cole. Eto’o’s first action on the pitch was at defense though, taking down possible future Chelsea man Diego Costa, resulting in a penalty, which the prolific goal scorer finished with ease.
Chelsea would now need two goals to advance and almost got one when a David Luiz header found the post with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois beat. Chelsea was in unfamiliar territory having to push forward and Atlético saw the open space. Atléti followed what their Madrid neighbors did to Bayern Munich just 24 hours earlier, and put on a brilliant display of countering. 12 minutes after Costa’s go ahead goal, Arda Turan followed his header off the crossbar and buried Chelsea’s hopes of a UCL title.
Mourinho was a gracious loser after the match.
“Congratulations to them,” he said in an interview with Sky Sports. “They are a very good side and what they are doing also in the Spanish league is fantastic. I hope it’s a good final."
Mourinho went on to say, “the first half was more ours than them, but in the second half one minute changes everything. One minute the Atletico keeper makes a very good save, the same minute it was a penalty, after that, 2-1 against Atletico is almost impossible.”
Now, for the second year in a row, two teams from the same league will play in the UCL final.
“The truth is the team was brilliant,” Diego Costa told Canal Plus. “We have done everything possible to get to the final. Both Real Madrid and us are deserved finalists”.
Atlético has yet to lose a match in the UCL this year and is 1-2-1 against Real Madrid this season.
