Friday, 20 March 2015

Match Preview : (Spain) Atletico Madrid vs Getafe / Athletic Bilbao vs Almeria

Atletico Madrid vs Getafe
Diego Simeone is keen for his players to concentrate on the league this weekend after an impressive showing in the Champions League.
Atletico Madrid beat Bayer Leverkusen on penalties to secure a quarter-final berth on Tuesday, and were subsequently drawn against Real Madrid, but Simeone was keen to downplay the fixture.
The Argentinian has urged his players to focus on their Primera Division campaign having failed to hit the heights of last year, with last week's goalless draw with Espanyol leaving the champions fourth in the table.
"Now our life is La Liga, to continue fighting to make sure we don't exit the battle with Valencia and Sevilla. We need to be clear that our match is (against) Getafe," he said on as.com.
"We must be clear that it is an intense match, that requires us to play to achieve the victory. It must be sought from the start."
Simeone hinted that he may be forced into resting several players after the exertions of Tuesday night. Mario Mandzukic, Miguel Angel Moya and Raul Garcia have been left out of the travelling squad, while Miranda is absent after he was sent off against Espanyol.
Getafe will go into the game with a clear game plan, according to Pablo Franco, with the coach admitting he expects Atletico to be on a high following their midweek win.
Franco's men sneaked their first away win in eight games at Cordoba two weeks ago, but their form has been inconsistent and leaves them 13th in the table.
"They are a great team, victory the other day reinforces them even more, so we must be clear that tomorrow we will go for broke," he told getafecf.com.
Athletic Bilbao vs Almeria
Athletic Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde has played down the significance of his side stringing together five straight league victories - a milestone they will reach if they can see of Almeria on Saturday.
The Basque side have not won five consecutive league games since 1985, but Valverde does not believe taking three points over Almeria will vindicate what has been, in his own words, an inconsistent season.
He told a press conference: "We always tend to exaggerate the situation. When we were getting bad results we weren't on the edge of the precipice as everyone said, and now that we are doing well we do no think we are in heaven, we know that we are only halfway there.
"We are having an inconsistent season. We are on a positive run, and I believe getting to the Copa del Rey final lifted our spirits. Now we have an opportunity to win five league games in a row and if we do it we'll try and make it six."
The coach will be without his top scorer Aritz Aduriz through injury and Mikel San Jose, who is suspended after being sent off in the 1-0 win at Celta Vigo last week. Almeria defender Mauro Dos Santos is also suspended, for seeing red in the 0-0 draw with Villarreal, and Jose Manuel Jimenez 'Mane' is injured, but Javier Espinosa and Ximo Navarro return.
While Athletic are going for five wins in a row, Almeria will want to bring an end to a hapless run that has seen them go five matches without winning. They head to San Mames level on points with the relegation zone, but Valverde is wary that his side have lost at home to several struggling teams recently, with Granada, Cordoba and Elche all winning in Bilbao this term.
"The teams at the bottom have done badly at home this season and in this match our opponents come here in need of points, as have other teams," he said.
"We have struggled against teams that close up at the back and play on the counterattack. We were on a similar run to the one we are on now when Cordoba visited here and they ended our run, and that could happen against Almeria."

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