Fresh from reaching a first Champions League final in 40 years on Wednesday, Atletico Madrid insist they are already focused on their La Liga title run-in, starting with a trip to Levante UD tomorrow.
Atletico are to face bitter neighbors Real Madrid in a historic Champions League final in Lisbon next month, but in the meantime they are in the driving seat as they need just two wins from their last three games to seal their first La Liga title for 18 years.
Diego Simeone’s men are on a run of nine straight league wins and another victory away to mid-table Levante will give Los Rojiblancos the chance to wrap up the championship at home to Malaga next weekend, and avoid needing to get something from their daunting visit to Barcelona on the final day of the campaign.
Photo: EPA
Even in the wake of his side’s famous 3-1 win over Chelsea, Simeone insisted he was immediately “preparing and focusing on the objective of beating Levante.”
Fullback Filipe Luis echoed his coach’s sentiments and believes they will have beaten “the best team in Europe” if they go on to win La Liga or the Champions League.
“This team never give up. There are a lot of very important games before Lisbon and we are going to try and win them all,” he said.
“Real Madrid are the most difficult opponent you can face, they are the best team in Europe in my opinion, but we always approach games with humility and try our best to win. There is a long way to go though and now Levante is the most important game,” Luis added.
Simeone is expected to make a few changes to the side that started at Stamford Bridge, with captain Gabi back from suspension and the likes of Raul Garcia and David Villa set to feature.
However, top-scorer Diego Costa should be fit to start despite being withdrawn in midweek due to a knee injury.
Real Madrid could be nine points adrift of Atletico, albeit with two games in hand, by the time they kick off later tomorrow at home to Valencia.
Los Blancos enjoyed a fantastic win in midweek themselves, as they hammered European champions Bayern Munich 4-0 at the Allianz Arena to qualify for their first European final for 12 years.
Having already lifted the Copa del Rey, Real could still win an historic treble this season, should Atletico stumble in their final few league games.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti is savoring the success of his first season in charge.
“Obviously I am very happy, you have to enjoy the good moments because, sooner or later, the bad moments will come,” he told Sky Italia. “It gives me great satisfaction to take Real Madrid to the final 12 years later.”
Barcelona also maintain a slight chance of retaining the title, although they need both Atletico and Real to slip up, as well as winning their three remaining games.
The Catalans can close the gap on Atletico to one point when they host relegation-threatened Getafe earlier tomorrow and, despite looking like they will miss out on a major trophy for the first time in six years, midfielder Sergio Busquets insists they have to put the pressure on both sides from the capital.
“We still have the end of La Liga to come, but it has not been a good season when it comes to results,” he said on Thursday. “We know that we don’t depend on ourselves and that makes it more difficult, but we still have hope. We need to exhaust all the possibilities.”
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
When Wang Tao ran away from home aged 17 to become a professional wrestler, he knew it would be a hard slog to succeed in China’s passionate but underdeveloped scene. Years later, he has endured family disapproval, countless side gigs and thousands of hours of brutal training to become China’s “Belt and Road Champion” — but the struggle is far from over. Despite a promising potential domestic market, the Chinese pro wrestling community has been battling for recognition and financial stability for decades. “I have done all kinds of jobs [on the side]... Because in the end, it is very
Olympic bronze medalist Lee Meng-yuan has become the first Taiwanese athlete to top the International Shooting Sport Federation’s (ISSF) men’s skeet world rankings, while top Taiwanese shooters won golds in each of yesterday’s finals in Taoyuan. Lee’s 6,610 points put him ahead of fellow men’s skeet medalists from the Paris Olympics Americans Vincent Hancock and Conner Prince. Lee on Monday said that he was surprised by the result, although he had expected his ranking to rise after the Games, which was also the first time a Taiwanese athlete had competed in men’s skeet. Despite topping the rankings, Lee said he believed Hancock, who
Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner and Kody Clemens homered on Wednesday as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs 9-6 and clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs. Castellanos had three hits and scored three times. Bryson Stott also had three hits and Brandon Marsh drove in three runs for the Phillies, who on Monday claimed their first National League East title in 13 years. Coupled with the Milwaukee Brewers’ 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia secured the bye and home-field advantage in the NL Division Series. The Phillies owned the tiebreaker with the Brewers after winning the season series against the