Multi champions: Atleti doesn't cry and Valencia drowns in Milan

The Metropolitan is being built. A stadium with seals on it. With body, but no soul. Far from everything the Vicente Calderón experienced. From the nights of glory on the banks of the Manzanares to the nights of Champions next to the M-40. A first leg match of the round of sixteen against the European champion and one of the best teams of the moment. The fans responded, lit up the accesses with flares and the spirit of the river reached the asphalt of San Blas. 

The highest paid coach in Spanish football had to respond to a game like this. An author's team that can't find the script this season. Liverpool were good opponents to prove that Atletico also play with a shield when football is missing. Simeone did what has worked for him the last eight years. He scored the first and subjected his opponents to an almost martial defence. No mistakes, no fissures. A system with risks and no plan B that has taken its toll on him in big finals but makes him go to Anfield with his head held high. 

Saúl Ñíguez is one of those good football players. Good, very good. And he performs at the same level in front of a microphone. After such an important victory due to the team's irregular performance this season, he came up with the idea of cracking the whip and delivering. He remembered the critics. The ones who judge the team when it plays badly. Crazy people. He remembered the press, with whom he doesn't get along. And he remembered his coach who, when the team needs him, puts him on the sidelines. Too many phobias. Too much resentment. Even though everyone lives their victories the way they want to. 

Who would have thought that Klopp is also a crybaby? The usual crocodile tear when things haven't gone your way. Very common in all kinds of tactics. From Mourinho's continuous crying in his time in paradise, to the Guardiola who always had an excuse to manage defeat. Klopp did not complain about the Atleti's approach. He protested because the Red-White were wasting time or were on the ground too much. He said nothing about Simeone devising a system to stop Liverpool from running. Balls at the foot and the English dazed by having to play a game they don't know. Then came the threats that the game wasn't over and the hell of Anfield. 

Incidentally, to dispel those myths of a centenary stadium is Enrique Cerezo, who came off, helmet in hand, certifying the aluminosis of Anfield Road and warming up the return leg. And he did it without ruffling his feathers, as always. 

With that phrase, the Bourbon Henry IV converted from Protestantism to Catholicism in order to reign in France. Something like that will have to be done by the PSG if it wants to reign in Europe. Turn his domestic game into something else when he lands in the Champions. A whole winter dedicated to Ligue 1, with anodyne rivals of rude football. Dortmund arrived with their cheerful football and a league just as competitive as the French one and took the game away. Mbappé and a strong Neymar did not shine as expected and will have to wait for the return mass in Teutonic territory. 

Just as Jovic was once the fashion, now Haaland is the fashion. The 6'4" Norwegian goes out on goal every quarter of an hour. It didn't take Dortmund long to give Paco Alcácer a passport to make room for this kid. At the moment, the 20 million in signings and the 25 million in bonuses that his family and the illusionist Mino Raiola have taken, are well paid. The proportion of goals he scores and the rumours that lead him to Real Madrid are directly proportional. It will be more difficult for the bankruptcy of Barça to catch anything. It will be a pleasure to see him play the return leg and put PSG on the ropes.

Like a machine gun, the almighty Atalanta scored goals. A kind of Getafe, but with joyful play. Of these teams that appear from time to time in Europe. Like Valencia de Cúper or Leeds de Viduka or Ferdinand at the beginning of the century. There were four of them, but they were able to score six. Without an outstanding player and with a system of attacking a lot and defending nothing. A heart attack in Simeone's football. 

Valencia arrives just in time for this stretch of the season. It overcame the crisis of Marcellin. Celades won the dressing room and the team rallied. In Spain they have a shot at closing their presence in Europe if they are able to lose less than the others. In Europe they show their weak points. Casualties condemn the team. Garay and Paulista are their backbone together with the usual Rodrigodependence. Blessed be the day that their departure to Atléti and Barça was not forged. Jaume continues to occupy a goal that comes big. And without goalkeepers you don't win games. 

The typical and old word game with the field of Valencia sounds again. The Mestalla district will be dressed in its best clothes on 10 March to try to make the comeback. With the Fallas as a backdrop, it will be time to come back. Scoring three goals and not conceding a single one. Do in the return leg what you didn't do 20 days ago. They say that Klopp came out convinced of a comeback when Barça gave them that unlucky 3-0. The reason was given by the famous 4-0 at Anfield. You hear the same thing at Valencia. If they are able to miss less and defend better... anything is possible. 

It's not exactly long. It's more of a shadow of what it was. The Portuguese can do it at Tottenham. His booklet is obsolete and he doesn't want to update it. A penalty from Leipzig sends him off to Germany to try and play attack. Bad times for Portuguese lyrics.