It is being billed as a battle between Spanish flair and quality against the plucky, hardworking English grit. However, the second club in Madrid is confident of their chances of lifting the European trophy in another season where their domestic league campaign has failed.
Athletico Madrid is bullish about their chances of prevailing over Fulham when the two sides meet each other in the final of the Champions League. The two sides will clash in Hamburg on Wednesday, May 12. Athletico Madrid’s Argentinean ace Sergio Aguero says that the game against Fulham will be a hard task but was confident that the Spanish side will be able to overcome the Cottagers.
The son-in-law of the great legend, Diego Maradona said, “The truth is that it is a difficult match. Fulham have very strong players. The Premier League is a very demanding one but we have to do the football that Quique (Sanchez) demands us to do and, easily, with the quality that we have we can achieve what we want.”
The young “Kun” was speaking to reporters at the end of media open day at the Vicente Calderon.
Athletico Madrid’s passage to the Champions League final has been a bit of a mockery given the fact that they managed a meager two victories out of eight matches. Their dismal domestic season has also led to them being placed at a lowly ninth position in the La Liga. Their domestic form may be frustratingly inconsistent yet again this season; however, they have a chance to win serious silverware in the inaugural Champions League against a plucky but unspectacular Fulham side.
Athletico’s giant Czech stopper, Tomas Ujsfalusi was a little more circumspect in of his assessment of the game, stating that both sides had fantastic front men: "It is going to be difficult of course. Nevertheless, not only with him (Bobby Zamora). They have a good team; they are playing very well at this moment. It is a final, it is only one game, you know, it is something special. Nevertheless, we have also a great team, we have also good strikers, like Kun and Forlan and Reyes and Simao and Jurado. We will see after ninety or ninety five minutes."
Ujsfalusi comments on Bobby Zamora highlight the renaissance of former-comedy striker who was better known for spectacularly bad misses. However, the English striker’s form and his central role in guiding the Cottagers to the final this term has alerted opposition defenders of the threat that he will pose.
Spanish striker and former Arsenal player Jose Antonio Reyes was upbeat about Atletico’s chances especially given the fact he was something of a bogeyman against Fulham, always achieving good results against them with his former London club: “I have played a lot of games against Fulham and neither I lost or equalized against them. I hope the saga continues.”
Athletico coach Quique Sanchez Flores showed his respect for Fulham's coach Roy Hodgson who has recently been in the headlines. Hodgson has been hailed for Fulham’s brilliant European campaign and is being increasingly linked with Liverpool at Merseyside. Flores paid a glowing tribute to Hodgson saying that despite the lack of individual quality in the Fulham side, Hodgson had manage to shoehorn a work ethic, proficient enough to grind out any result:
"Hodgson has a future, I mean, an extraordinary past. The latest I tried to investigate was with your colleagues from Italian RAI who gave me a good reference about his past with Inter. He is an institution within the Premier (League). I understand that whatever he does, where ever he does it, given that there are many ways to succeed, he manages it very well. I also understand that he does not have individual talent but he has a good collective team that has reached a final so he continues to do a good job. I respect him a lot. I always look forward to play against guys or coaches with tradition and who have things under control.”
Given the quality of the players like Aguero, Forlan, Reyes, and Simao, Athletico will start-off as favorites against the London side as they look to end their continental trophy drought, as their last gong was the European Cup Winner’s Cup in 1962.
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