Former Liverpool and Manchester City defender Mark Seagraves believes that the upcoming Manchester United vs Atletico Madrid UEFA Champions League fixture would be a cagey affair with both teams yet to hit their strides in the competition. However, this is a big game for both teams considering their recent form and the uncertainty of a return to the Champions League next year judging by their domestic campaigns. With Barcelona having exposed Atletico’s defensive weakness this season, this could be a precursor or a precedent for other teams to go head-on and take the fight to the once-fabled Simeone defence.
“If I were a manager right now visiting Atletico Madrid in their current form, I’d be happy to take the game to them,” Seagraves told News.18.com reflecting on the headline fixture this week. We’ve known that the bedrock of Atletico has been their defensive capabilities and this year they have conceded a lot”, he said, adding, “United could win on their day. But, they’ve been inconsistent as well.”
United’s season has been one marked by stark differences both on and off the field. Despite managing to grind out victories against Brighton and Leeds in recent weeks, United do not seem like a team that could be associated to the term ‘consistent’. It is highly probable that Simeone would most probably stick to his guns and start off with a compact formation devoid of any holes. It would be a safe bet to assume that he wouldn’t particularly be interested in playing expansive football at this juncture.
“It’s going to be a cagey game. Will come down to three-four opportunities for both sides. But, I think at home Atletico would come out purely because they play at home this week.” feels Seagreaves” Seagraves noted.
If there’s one player in the world you would trust to take that big opportunity and convert, it has to be the big man himself- Cristiano Ronaldo. And the attacking potential of Manchester United can’t be questioned with the likes of quality players such as Jadon Sancho and Bruno Fernandes on United’s payroll. A solid display from a spirited United outfit could be enough to ensure their progress given the amount of talent in their ranks.
Era of English domination?
After the Spanish domination of the Champions League from 2014-13 TO 2017-18, English teams have seemingly started to assert their dominance in recent times. (20-21 and 18-19-all English finals; 17-18 losing finalists). This could be the result of talent being spread across rather evenly in the English league. While also, having the best squads being tested against each other on a weekly basis adds to the credibility and quality of the league. That being said, one simply can’t rule out the ‘Financial factor’ that could put a lot of things in perspective.
As noted by Seagraves, ” I just think, obviously, the Spanish teams dominated because what happens in football is (that) all the biggest players go where all the biggest money is and back in the day the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona dominated because they had the best players. And the league that they play in, the La Liga, is a strong league as well.
“I think it’s like anything else, as we see in the Galactico era (The OG 2000s) all the best players went there. That was the league to go to and play, but now they’ve got other leagues to go to and the Premier League is the one with the money. So, they get the players,” said 55-year-old.
Elaborating on the reasons behind the dip in the financial fortunes of the Iberian clubs, the former Liverpool player says “The financial issues that hit La Liga in the past couple of seasons has set them back. In the PL, it’s very very competitive. Right down to 6-8 teams can look to fight for the top 4. ; While in the case of other leagues, it is dominated by 2-3 teams, and just one in some cases. Now with all the money and all of the players that go to the Premier League, they’ve (English Teams) dominated in the past 2-3 seasons. I think that’s the key(to the turnaround in the fortunes of the British clubs),” added the defender who made 157 appearances for Bolton Wanders between 1990 to 1995.
Scrapping of the Away Goals Rule
The ruling (To scrap away goals) left a whole band of followers of the game bewildered as it was one of those special parameters that made the Champions League Knock out fixtures all the more enticing. As observed from the PSG Vs Real Madrid game, the home team went all-out attack while Real Madrid took a more defensive approach. One does wonder if this could be a result of the away goals rule is discarded. And if this could turn out to be a recurring pattern in the Champions League knockout stages?
“Away goals were like gold!,” explained Seagraves. “It’s making teams more cautious when they go away. Away goals are an advantage. If you can get a goal away from home, even if you get beat 2-1, it was a decent result. Away goals make the tie more attractive.” And getting that away goal was an incentive for teams playing away from home to not just ‘park the bus’ as such, but to go on and play more attacking football. “Managers going away from home for the first leg will approach the game with more caution than they would have previously (now that the rule has been scrapped).”
This change in the regulations may impact the smaller clubs a tab bit more than they affect the bigger teams, as Seagraves elucidates, “Bigger teams have better players who can play well home or away. But, the ruling makes it less of a competition, I feel. I feel it was a case of ‘If it isn’t broken, there’s no need to fix it’, Seagraves said signing off.
Watch UEFA Champions League 2021-22 (Round 16 – 1st Leg): Chelsea vs LOSC – LIVE on SONY TEN 2 (English), SONY TEN 3 (Hindi) & SONY TEN 4 (Tamil & Telugu) channels on February 23, 2022, from 1:30 am IST.
Watch UEFA Champions League 2021-22 (Round 16 – 1st Leg): Villarreal vs Juventus – LIVE on SONY TEN 1 (English) channels on February 23, 2022, from 1:30 am IST.
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