Two of the top Spanish clubs have had a hard time finding their footing in the first half of the Champions League group stage. Perhaps, Atletico Madrid’s situation is more unexpected than Barcelona’s at this point. The team from the Spanish capital was only able to pick up 3 points in the same number of games that’s good for 4th place in their group at the halfway point.
Barcelona isn’t faring much better. However, the fact that they aren’t doing so well in the European competition may not be that much of a surprise. They are dealing with a much tougher group that is led by Bayern Munich, who are followed by Inter Milan. Barcelona occupies the third spot with 3 points after only picking up a win against Viktoria Plzen. Which of the two situations looks to be the most concerning?
Atlético Madrid Have A Way To Get Back In The Thick Of Things
Atlético Madrid somewhat unexpectedly lost to Club Brugge, and Bayern Leverkusen respectively. They were on the road for both matchups though. So that means that for the second leg of games they are going to get those two teams at home, and they’ll only travel to Porto. The distances that the team is going to need to travel for the second leg of games diminishes considerably.
Another thing that they have going for them is that although they are sitting at the bottom of their group with 3 points the second spot in the group also has the same amount of points as they do. So it’s highly likely that if they’re able to win those two home games they’ll have a good chance of going through to the next round. It would certainly be a let-down for Atlético to fall to the Europa League or vow out of European competition altogether.
Even though they have not had the fortune of picking up good results in the last few games, the way that the group has played out gives them a ton of chances to still make a push towards the next round. They’ve gotten beat on counters in the last two games when it was they who carried the weight of the game. When it’s all set and done they are still the most talented team in the group by far, so they should find a way to pull through.
Barcelona May Have Condemned Themselves To The Europa League
Barcelona is dealing with some of the same issues that Atlético are going through. Today they played most of the game on Inter’s half, and they were a lot more active offensively than the Milan side. Defensively though, they looked real loose, and vulnerable to counter-attacks. They could’ve gone down multiple times if it weren’t for razor-thin offside calls. Ironically the only goal of the match came off a play that wasn’t necessarily a full on counter by Inter Milan.
The biggest problem that Barcelona seem to be facing is that they need to find a way to get points in their matchup with Bayern Munich. That’s something they’ve proven to be unable to do over their last meetings with the German side. When it’s all set and done they may have to face off against Inter Milan again for the right to go to the next round. However, if Inter can muster up a draw against Bayern, Barcelona could be all but done for. Of course, this is contemplating that all 3 teams beat Viktoria Plzen. At this point Barça don’t necessarily control their own destiny, and that’s why maybe they should be more worried about their Champions League future than Atlético.
