Real Madrid Must be Ready for Battle with Atleti in Champions League Final

The 2014 Champions League final ultimately came down to one juncture moment and, much as everyone at Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid has tried to deny it, the 2016 showdown could well be decided by the same spectacular passage of play. 

Everything depends on how Diego Simeone’s respond to Sergio Ramos’s stoppage-time from Lisbon. Sure, a lot has happened between the two sides since then, but not on a level like this. There have been no moments on a level like that either. 

Given the club’s contrasting histories and everything the nature of the goal represented - from Atletico’s last-minute trauma in 1974 against Bayern Munich to Real just always coming out on top when it matters most - it was a strike of such emotional weight that it can’t but condition this game. 

Either Atletico will use it to properly fire and focus themselves and make sure they make amends, as Milan did against Liverpool in 2007 and as Simeone’s side have privately promised themselves, or else it will cause a surge of self-doubt when it matters most. It was that traumatic a moment, on that elevated a stage, that it’s impossible not to think it will impact in a big way on this game. 

It will either drive Atletico or diminish them. 

That mental challenge also reflects the physical battle that Simeone’s side have slogged through since 2014. It is just another of the grand differences between the teams, and how they are opposite sides of a huge divide, despite their geographical closeness. 

Despite many fair questions about the nature of their finance, Altetico’s story is still one of defying modern football realities. The fact that just six players remain from the 2014 match-day squad emphasises how well Simeone has done to keep them at the same level, and they have got here by beating two clubs on a far greater financial level: Barcelona and Bayern Munich. 

The way they finally got revenge on the German side for 1974 may emphasise that the Argentine is gradually banishing all the club’s ghosts - as well as all old perceptions of Atletico - and he has done it by banishing so many stellar attacks. There is obviously more to Simeone’s side than defending, but they defend in a more effective way than anyone in Europe. 

They have the best goals conceded record in the continent’s top leagues at 0.47 per game and, partially explaining that, they have made more tackles per league game - at 24.6 - than anyone else in the Champions League too, or any other team in Europe’s top five leagues for that matter. So much of their history has been a dogfight but the difference with this team is they have made a virtue of it. 

Real may have the more epic past, but they haven’t had the same kind of epic run to the final. No soul-searching or introspection has been required. The comeback against a poor Wolfsburg aside, they have mostly glided here against inferior opposition. They have carried the assurance of sides just better than who they have played, the type of team that - yes - does score those emotionally crushing last-minute goals. The story of their campaign is one of expensive players eventually excelling, even if they needed a change of manager to facilitate that - and their egos. 

Since replacing Rafa Benitez, though, Zinedine Zidane has done much more than just placate the personalities of players like Cristiano Ronaldo. He has made one key tactical change that has at least steadied Real Madrid so that they have been able to make the best of their superior squad of stars.  

It has ironically - if very pointedly - involved one of those stars getting dropped. Casemiro was brought in for James Rodriguez and the Brazilian midfielder promptly put in more tackles in this season’s Champions League (35) than anyone except Gabi (38) and Filipe Luis (36). 

It has given Real Madrid a greater grit, that may mean they are better able to battle Atletico if it comes right down to it. Simeone even predicted that Zidane’s side would actually sit back and wait for his attack, just as they did against an insipid Manchester City in the semi-final, in order to under-cut their counter-attacking with Antoine Griezmann. 

It is telling in that regard that Koke has second most assists in the Spanish league this season, at 14, and more than any Real player. Zidane will have to be wary of that launched ball to Griezmann. And this is the thing. We know what we’re going to get from both sides starting off. The wonder is how they’ll finish it, and how previous events - and their histories - begin to influence the game from then. A new moment could change everything.

Who will come out on top when Real Madrid face Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final? Let us know in the comments below