Hello! Welcome to our coverage of tonight’s UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona. Just ten months after the Round of 16 stage concluded, we are finally back and today’s duel between two bitter domestic rivals could not come under more bizarre circumstances.
Let’s start with the surreal nature of this tie. Eleven days ago, Atletico Madrid announced that five players tested positive for coronavirus, destroying their pre-season preparations in the process. The players who have Coronavirus and will not make the trip are Charlyn Corral, Laia Aleixandri, Silvia Meseguer, Deyna Castellanos, and Leicy Santos – numerous important starters that Atletico will sorely miss.
After many questions about whether Atletico even had enough players for this tie to go ahead, Atleti boss Dani González eventually called on a 17 players squad composed of all 14 available first team players plus 3 reserves eligible for the competition. By comparison, Barcelona have a full squad of 25.
That is only part of the Atletico story as there has also been a complete upheaval on the pitch. Atletico have moved through three different coaches in 2019-20, with Gonzalez arriving in January and still in the process of gelling with his team when the season was suspended before Barcelona was awarded the title. Atleti now return with a completely different team than the last after nine players departed at the end of the season. Atletico have found strong replacements, however, and they will rely on Jade Moore, Emelyne Laurent, Merel van Dongen, Hedvig Lindahl, Alia Guagni and Turid Knaak to hit the ground running in an unfamiliar team.
Atletico Madrid will return to face a Barcelona team that could not have enjoyed a more peaceful, contrasting summer. After an incredible 2019-20 season where Barcelona remained unbeaten and won their first league title in five years by 9 points along with the Supercopa, the team is largely unchanged.
Barcelona continue to have an embarrassment of riches in forward positions thanks to Jennifer Hermoso, Asisat Oshoala, Caroline Graham Hansen, and Lieke Martens, while Alexia Putellas will surely run the show in the middle of the pitch. We’ll see if Atletico has any miracles to produce tonight.