Vicente Calderon - A place where it's easy to go and hard to return

(Baonghean) - At 1:45 a.m. tomorrow morning (October 2), all attention will be focused on Vicente Calderon Stadium - where the top match between home team Atletico Madrid and Juventus will take place. For the home team, although they are the reigning runner-up in this tournament, in the opening match Atletico suffered a defeat, while the away team from Turin still maintained their excellent form in Serie A when participating in the prestigious C1 arena. However, Juventus cannot easily defeat Atletico because Vicente Calderon Stadium is always a difficult place for any team, no matter how powerful they are...

Atletico Madrid players celebrate their goal. Photo: Internet

Before the first match of the Champions League this year, despite many changes in the squad and the absence of last year's main striker, Diego Costa, who moved to Chelsea. However, last season's runner-up Atletico is still highly regarded, especially after the 2-1 away win over arch-rivals Real - the team from the same city as Madrid. Bringing to Karaiskakis Stadium, in Athens, the Greek team Olympiacos, a squad of players completely superior in class, Atletico still had to accept the bitter defeat with a score of 2-3. In this match, after being behind, the students of interim coach German Burgos (Diego Simeone is suspended from coaching) still showed a brave fighting spirit, constantly pressuring the opponent. But on a day when many players were unlucky in front of the opponent's goal, the "great substitute" German Burgos had to leave with his students empty-handed. The defeat at Olympiacos ended a very impressive away run in the 2013/2014 Champions League (without losing a single match since the group stage). The only consolation for Atletico was probably the 2 goals from the 2 new players they brought in during the "summer transfer market".

After the defeat in the Champions League, Atletico let Celta Vigo hold them to a 2-2 draw at Vicente Calderon and then won 1-0 away to the weak opponent Almeria. The red and white striped team only really proved their strength when coach Diego Simeone stayed on the bench. With disciplined, scientific play and sharpness typical of Diego Simeone, Atletico defeated their opponent Sevilla 4-0. Thanks to Simeone's timely return, Atletico Madrid had the most convincing victory since the beginning of the season to temporarily rise to 2nd place in La Liga. And this is certainly a huge motivation for the Argentine coach and his team to be confident on the path to conquering the Champions League as well as defending the La Liga championship this season.

Meanwhile, their opponents - the Turin team are in extremely impressive form in the Serie A "arena". In the first 5 rounds of the new season, Juventus won all 5 matches, scored 10 goals and never conceded even once. This is an extremely impressive achievement and this result reflects the strength of all 3 lines of the "Old Lady of Turin". Before the new season took place, many people doubted the ability of this team when choosing Massimiliano Allegri - the coach who was fired by AC Milan in the middle of last season. However, when he returned to Juventus, he built a playing style based on the 3-5-2 tactical diagram, but the efficiency in attack, the solidity in defense and the mobility of the midfielders were really different. In the C1 arena, Massimiliano Allegri and his students had a smooth start when they won against Malmo team and more importantly, Carlos Tevez scored again in this prestigious arena - something he could not do in the past 5 years. He is the number 1 striker of Juventus at the moment, his scoring will certainly be a big psychological boost for him in the upcoming journey in C1 as well as Serie A arena.

Despite their impressive form, Atletico Madrid's trip to Vicente Calderon is an extremely difficult task. According to statistics, in the past 3 years in European competitions, Atletico Madrid has not lost a single match. Many big teams that have won the Champions League such as Chelsea, Barca, Milan or Porto have "collapsed" at this sacred place. In the last 2 seasons, specifically the 2013-14 season, Atletico was also undefeated at Vicente Calderon. The above statistics are extremely scary for the away team, however, with the spirit of a team that is too familiar with the C1 arena and is in high form, it is not easy for Atletico Madrid to keep 3 points. Therefore, experts assess that this is the most balanced match in the series at 1:45 am tomorrow morning, the matter of determining the winner and the loser will only be based on individual mistakes and the team that takes advantage better will win.

South Scene