At the dawn of the quarter-final second leg of the Champions League between Atlético Madrid and FC Barcelona, this Tuesday, one stat alone sums up the scale of the task awaiting the Catalans, beaten in the first leg at Camp Nou (0-2): Atlético has never lost at home in the knockout phase of C1 since the arrival of Diego Simeone on its bench 15 years ago.
Memories of comebacks
Faced with the almost impossible mission that awaits them, therefore, Barça players have no choice but to summon glorious past exploits to convince themselves that they can do it. By chance, the reassembled against PSG in 2017, with a melting Neymar. Lamine Yamal, present at a press conference on Monday, did not hesitate to refer to it. The little prodigy was not yet 10 years old at the time, but he remembers it like it was yesterday.
“I saw the match several times, I had seen it live. Neymar is one of the players who marked my childhood, he is my idol, said the Spanish winger. He’s a player who makes you want to pay for a ticket to see a match. » Yamal hopes to be one of them too, and in particular for this great challenge on the lawn of the Metropolitano.
For that, he also found a source of inspiration from the NBA, he revealed. In 2016, the Cleveland Cavaliers won one of the most beautiful finals in history after being led 3-1 by the Warriors, defending champions. Hence the photo of LeBron James displayed on his Instagram account. “It’s one of the references that can inspire me for the match,” said Yamal, who is looking forward to fighting on the field.
“At the start of the season, people questioned my level a lot, in relation to pubalgia, etc. I couldn’t wait for these moments to arrive, because I believe that’s when the real players reveal themselves, the 18-year-old winger made no secret of himself. I have been lucky since I was little to have to take more responsibilities than others. So I’m used to it, and I don’t think about anything other than enjoying it with my teammates. I take it as a virtue and not a problem. »
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The Catalan phenomenon said he was “very motivated” and promised that Barça would “fight until the end”. “Am I going to make a difference tomorrow (Tuesday)? I hope so, maybe the “Cholo” (Diego Simeone) will do me a favor and put me one on one with a player. » We don’t know why, we would rather bet on three or four.
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