Bayer 04 Leverkusen’s defeat at home to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night came down to a difference in size, as well as two goals. The Spanish visitors proved eine Nummer zu gross, as they say in Germany — one size too big.
On another night, the home side could have scored a goal more, get a penalty (Javier Hernandez had a decent claim for an elbow in the face), defended less amateurishly. But for all the good work Roger Schmidt’s young side (their average age is below 24) did with the ball, for all the spells of decent pressure and slick attacking play before and after the break, they ultimately couldn’t seriously trouble a far superior team.
It’s game-over for Leverkusen. Atleti have won the tie with 90 minutes to spare.
“We have to make sure we concede fewer goals, that’s important in this competition,” Diego Simeone said, already thinking about the next round.
A warning about Leverkusen having “nothing to lose” sounded hollow and perfunctory. One Spanish reporter castigated Atletico for conceding twice, insisting they would have won a game against such opposition “4-0 two years ago.” We’ll never know. But there certainly won’t be a repeat of Bayer’s trip to the Vicente Calderon two years ago, when they managed to hold out valiantly for extra-time and tragic penalty shootout.
Ini adalah Atletico yang dikatakan melewati terbaik mereka, versi penjinak binatang bahwa Eropa telah tumbuh takut di musim berlalu. Beberapa saat goyah di belakang dengan tidak adanya Diego Godin mungkin digarisbawahi kecurigaan ini. Tapi selama depan bergerak dengan sebanyak presisi seperti yang mereka lakukan pada hari Selasa dan mengambil peluang mereka dengan efisiensi dingin seperti itu, mereka akan tetap lawan yang tangguh. (WN)