Maximo's Take

Let's breakdown Wednesday's matches and a couple of interesting results. In this article we'll talk about the match at one of Europe's historic sites the San Siro. It wasn't Inter, it wasn't Milan, the Italian side that ran over Valencia was Atalanta. Atalanta 4 x 1 Valencia While I picked the Italians to advance into the Quarterfinals even I and the most ambitious Atalanta fan didn't expect such a lobsided win. That final goal by Valencia keeps them alive and they now need a 3-0 win instead of a 5-0 victory which was the case when the match was 4-0. The reasoning behind picking Atalanta was simple as I explained in my preview. Playing the first match at home wasn't necessarily a bad thing.  Looking at the style of play from both teams even if Valencia were to come out of the first leg with a good result I didn't expect to see them scoring multiple goals and in such case the Bergamo side would travel to Spain with a good chance to advanc...

Part 2 of the Champions League. We'll talk about the other Tuesday match. Liverpool traveled back to the site of last year's final and the outcome wasn't nearly as fun for the Reds. Atlético Madrid won the game 1-0. Before I get into the match and what transpired in it. Let me revisit a quote from my preview of the duel: " Liverpool is clearly the favorite but this is exactly the type of situation where Cholo Someone thrives in. Whenever you count Atlético Madrid out they manage to find a way. Whenever you turnaround and think now this is their time they usually fold." This is not necessarily a bold statement but it's what we have grown acostumed to seeing. With the win they now can afford to lose by 1 as long they score at Anfield. Will the rojiblancos come through in a situation that's still difficult although significantly better than a lot of people expected or will Cholo Someone suffer another crushing defeat? Looking at it right now I...

Four games down, twelve to go. The Champions League was must see TV this week and it fulfilled even the highest expectations  As I mentioned in one of my previews earlier this week, the Chanpions League is a totally different competition in the knockout stage. The last two Champions finished second in their group before turning in the second semester.  Three out of the four winners finished second in their own group, granted they all played at home, it's a small sign nonetheless, after all while I thought it was possible I didn't imagine seeing Liverpool or PSG losing especially in the way that they did it and who saw that 4-1 from Atalanta coming, I picked them go through but I expected a tighter match in the first leg  Let's get into each specific match and reviews what happened in the first 90 minutes  Borussia Dortmund 2 x 1 PSG: In a thrilling contest the German side got the win with a couple of goals from the new wonderkid of the footb...

The Wednesday schedule for the Champions League has in store a couple of very interesting matchups. José Mourinho's Tottenham faces Julian Nagelsmann's RB Leipzig and in a battle of surprise teams Valencia travels to Italy to face Atalanta. It is safe to say that no one expects any of these four teams to win the title but they are all in their own individual way fun to watch. (I like to watch the pragmatism of Valencia). Atalanta x Valencia Introduction: Atalanta plays a very unique style of football under Gasperini, a lot of movement, individual marking are some of the straights of the Bergamo side. Valencia maintained it's pragmatic style of play with the two banks of four. On a season that appeared to be doomed with the whole Marceliño debocle, the reaction of the players but the team rallied and through a couple of hard fought 1-0 victories away from home at Ajax and at Stamford Bridge. They shocked the footballing world by finishing first in the gr...

It's February and the Champions League is back. I can't wait for the round of 16 to begin. There is no easing into it as we have a couple of premiere matchups on Tuesday 18, more commonly known as tomorrow. Liverpool will take on Atlético Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano and PSG will head to Germany to face Borussia Dortmund. For this round of 16, Uefa schedules two weeks for the first leg, which gives us the opportunity to really savor the competition without missing too many matches because they are being played at the same time. We'll be doing previews the day before every match and reviews the day after, today we'll focus on the two matches that were mentioned above and without any further a due let's begin. Atlético Madrid x Liverpool Introduction: It's interesting to think that the first place team in this matchup actually was the one that played it's final group stage match with the risk of not qualifying. Liverpool couldn'...