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Atletico-Athletic: An occasion to savour
At Real Madrid, they're still coming down from the high of winning a 32nd league title last week. At Barcelona, they're on a comedown following Pep Guardiola's emotional farewell at Camp Nou, though Lionel Messi's 45th, 46th, 47th and 48th league goals of the season against neighbours Espanyol (who have again faded badly after Christmas) cheered them up.
Talk of Barça signing Gareth Bale, Thiago Silva and Rob van Persie this summer are aimed at lifting morale further, but of more immediate concern is the present. The goals pushed Messi two clear of Ronaldo in the race for the Pichichi with a game to go. Both players have shattered scoring records again this season.
At Valencia, they're talking about former player Mauricio Pellegrino taking charge in the summer as Unai Emery leaves after four years. After Pellegrino's career finished at Liverpool, the former central defender, 40, was an assistant to Rafa Benitez at Anfield and Internazionale. He'll find the likelihood of repeating the title successes he enjoyed at the Mestalla in 2002 and 2004 limited by the crushing financial dominance of the big two. The rich have got richer, the poor poorer in Spain's anything-but-egalitarian financial model.
On the other side of the city, Levante fans are hoping that they can get back into a top six spot they've occupied all season and a first ever European qualification. Like the rest of Spain, their fans are engrossed by the events of last week and especially this.
Seven of the 10 final league games of the season will have a direct bearing on who stays up and who gets into Europe. Much is to be decided and the Primera Liga is far from predictable and lacking quality below the big two as some sneered before Spanish sides did so well in Europe this season. Yet tonight, the country will pause for a couple of hours tonight to watch the Europa League final between Athletic and Atletico - as will much of the football world.
It's a first all-Spanish European final since Sevilla's Hampden thriller against Espanyol in the 2007 UEFA Cup and the two teams couldn't be better matched. Spain's third (Atletico) and fifth (Athletic) best-supported teams both wear red and white stripes. They're both coached by Argentinians (Atleti coach Diego Simeone used to play under Marcelo Bielsa for his national side), both set to move home to bigger new stadiums. They even have the same names - though Atletico is Spanish and the Anglicised 'Athletic' denotes the English influence of Bilbao's founding fathers.
They've played each other twice this season with a win apiece. Just four points separate them in the league, while Athletic are fourth to Atletico's fifth in the respected all-time Spanish league table. And in the 150 previous league games between the two sides, Atletico have scored 234...to Athletic's 234.
They meet tonight in Bucharest's superb new national stadium and something has to give - and it's not just the home kit of one team. Athletic will wear their green shirt, as at Old Trafford, and they are the neutrals' choice. Their Basque player policy and football under Marcelo Bielsa has won them admirers around the world. Their fans are among Europe's friendliest, their city a perfect Euro away destination with its countless bars, city centre stadium and party atmosphere.
Athletic went to Manchester and outplayed United. The English champions' technical staff later studied the statistics of their visitors - no team had so many players who had run so much and completed so many passes since United began compiling records. Those same players can be excused for being exhausted for Athletic have played 60 games this season with the smallest squad of players too.
Athletic are also the romantic's choice, the home-grown players who are chasing the club's first ever European trophy. The closest they had previously come was reaching the final of the UEFA Cup in 1977, where they lost to Juventus. Most of their 4-3-3 (Iraizoz; Iraola, Javi Martinez, Amorebieta, Aurtenetxe; De Marcos, Iturraspe, Ander Herrera; Muniain, Llorente and Susaeta) have become household names during their run to Romania, yet for all the publicity for Athletic's mammoth season, Atletico have actually played more Europa League games - 18 against the Basques 15.
The Rojiblancos' European form has been the highlight of a sometimes frustrating season which saw coach Gregorio Manzano dismissed in December. He'd overseen huge changes after the departures of almost all the team which lifted the 2010 Europa League - players like Diego Forlan, Sergio Aguero and David De Gea. That was their fourth European trophy in a rich European history which saw them runners up in the 1974 European Cup final, twice runners up in the Cup Winners' Cup and second best in the 2004 Intertoto Cup.
Manzano began the positive start in Europe and Simeone kept the form going - Atleti have won 16, drawn one and lost one of their Europa League games so far, but their line-up is more difficult to predict. A good guess would be a 4-2-3-1 comprised of Courtois (on loan from Chelsea); Juanfran, Miranda, Godin, F Luis; Mario, Gabi; Adrian, Diego (on loan from Wolfsburg), Turan and the beast that is their Colombian top scorer Falcao up front.
It's an enticing prospect. Finals can sometimes be tepid affairs, but surely two of Spain's most interesting and colourful sides will give us all something to cheer about.
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