Champions League: An Anti-climatic Night in Madrid for the Reds

Atletico Madrid 1-1 Liverpool

From the moment that the Champion’s League group stages were announced, the match between Atletico Madrid and Liverpool looked to be one of the most intriguing. Fernando Torres had spent seven seasons in Madrid before heading off to Anfield and being vaulted into superstardom with 33 goals in 46 matches in his first season. Tonight, he was meant to return to play his old team in his home country of Spain, a country he helped to the Euro 2008 title this summer.

However, the hero’s return was not meant to be, as “El Nino” picked up a hamstring injury that ruled him out of even making the trip to Madrid. Adding to the game’s lack of luster was the exclusion of emerging Atletico star, Sergio Aguero. Aguero, hampered by a minor ankle problem and a harsh stretch in La Liga, started the game on the bench.

While the two stars were not immediately involved, there were plenty of stars on both sides to make this match a thrilling fixture. The game itself did little to live of to its original billing. On a windy, miserable night in Madrid, both squads played sloppy ball throughout the first half, Atletico more so, as Liverpool had most of the threatening play.

The first goal came on a Gerrard pass up the middle to a wide-open and slightly offside Robbie Keane. Keane buried the ball into the back of the net, giving his squad a 1-0 lead. With the lack of attack from Atletico, a Liverpool win looked imminent.

Aguero did hit the field in the second half and the offense got a short burst from his presence. Both teams looked dangerous only in short bursts. The game started to settle after that, and Benitez, feeling confident in holding the lead, made some changes to his form and attack. He removed Keane, Gerrard, and Xabi Alonso in succession, hoping to rest them for Sunday’s top-of-the-league battle with Chelsea. This was a mistake, as Rafa robbed his team of much of their attack and the squad settled in to defend. Atletico pushed forward and got the goal they were looking for, after an defensive miscue, Arbeloa drifting over to cover Carragher’s man and leaving Portuguese winger, Simao, wide open to drill a low ball far side past Pepe Reina.

The game ended in a 1-1 draw, not traumatic to either team’s bid to make it out of the group stage, as they remain tied at the top of the group with 7 points, but it certainly was not a confidence booster.

The game was negatively marked by some poor calls as well. The referee and his assistants had a dreadful game, missing on several instances. The game was called solidly in the midfield, with tight control on harsh tackles, something that can get out of hand in a sloppy game. But the penalty and offside decisions had a big impact on the final score.

First, the Robbie Keane goal was slightly offside, a forgivable mistake, considered it was only by an arm. Later on in the half, Yossi Benayoun scored on another great Gerrard pass, but the goal was disallowed due to offside, which the Israel international was not. Later in the first half, Liverpool winger Albert Riera was taken out by the back-swinging foot of an Atletico defender in the box, yet he was given a yellow card for a dive. A horrible call by the referee, who was standing just a couple of yards away, right on top of them. Later in the first half, Madrid midfielder, Maniche, fell down in the box, and the correct call was made, as he fell hard with a two second delay after he was nicked by Arbeloa. Did I mention that Arbeloa had another crap game? He did.

In the second half, Atletico were the victims, as a goal was taken away by another offside call that wasn’t. Later, Forlan ran onto a ball that was saved by Reina, and he was called offside, despite the fact that he was about a yard or so onside. There were a couple more bad offside calls in the game, that didn’t have any real impact, but come to think of it, most of the poor calls came on one side of the pitch.

The two squads will meet again at Anfield in two weeks.