Europa League – Match Preview: Aris Thessaloniki versus Atletico Madrid
Thursday night in the European continent, sees Aris take on Atletico Madrid. Finishing fourth in last year’s Super League Greece granted Aris the right to participate this year’s Europa League competitions alongside European greats
like Juventus and Liverpool. It will be a new experience for the team from Saloniki but one can expect them to be up for it nonetheless.
Aris do not have an absence of sufficient European experience in their side as they are marshalled by the former Valencia coach, Hector Cuper. Cuper will undoubtedly be aware of the frailties that exist in Atletico’s squad, a squad
that has its offensive superiority but is quite suspect when it comes to defence. Hector had brilliant two years at Los Che’s in Spain; with Valencia he went to two consecutive finals of the UEFA Champions League only to suffer defeat on both the occasions.
However on the field, the Greeks are terribly short of reliable individuals and this might work in their favour as they take on Atletico. Aris will obviously have nothing to lose in the upcoming encounter and this will probably
mean that they will play without fear, fear of losing out on something precious. Aris do have the famous Freddy Adu, Adu was scouted by several top class European clubs around about four or five years ago but since then the American footballer has faded away
from the scene. However worryingly for the Greeks, Adu has not been on the best of his form of late and thus Atletico can very well have a field time against Aris.
Aris will most likely line up with the former Barcelona B midfielders Javito and Calvo in their first eleven; they will also have Koke, the man who used to play for Malaga and Olympique Marseille in their squad. It is quite likely
that Koke will be their strongest link between midfield and attack and therefore all the onus will be on him to take the game by the scruff of the neck.
As far as Atletico Madrid are concerned, it’s a tough tie for them. Not only are they facing an unknown quantity in Aris they also have to deal with Barcelona’s visit to their home ground on the coming weekend. It will be difficult
for Atletico’s coach to forget about the match against Barca on the weekend and totally focus his attention on this Europa League match. Therefore it is expected that Atletico Madrid will rest a few of their starters to maintain some sort of balance in performance
against Aris.
Last season was a brilliant one for Atletico, they won the inaugural Europa League competition by defeating the English club side Fulham in the final match of the tournament, and another European triumph this year will do their
history and supporters a world of good. But will they have the stomach to go on a remarkable ride once again? Signs do suggest so. They still have the services of their star strikers, Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero, a striking department which contains these
two marksmen can be rated right at the top alongside the likes of Villa and Messi at Barcelona and Ronaldo and Higuain at Real Madrid. Domestically, Madrid have started off brilliantly, they are unbeaten in the two games they have played thus far and have
gathered all three points so far.
Aris will be without their players Toja, Neto and Cesarec. Whereas Atletico will be preparing to take on Aris without their Argentinean striker Aguero who limped off in the early stages of Madrid’s match against Bilbao. Atletico
will also be without their defender Ujfalusi. The match is taking at Aris’s home ground in Greece; therefore a draw is the most likely outcome given that Atletico have one eye on their weekend’s fixture against Barcelona.
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