Manchester United vs Atletico Madrid
The pre-seasons are throwing up some cracking fixtures. Last week, we enjoyed the El Clasico and this weekend, the Club Friendly between Atletico Madrid and Manchester United is the pick of the bunch.
Erik ten Hag’s Red Devils are further down the road in terms of their pre-season preparations as the Premier League starts a week ahead of La Liga. United have already played five warm-up games while Atleti are about to have their second outing.
The game provides a decent benchmark for both sides who are both evenly matched in the Club Friendly 2022 odds and have a similar dilemma as they approach the campaign ahead.
The pre-season La Liga betting odds suggest Atletico fans may need to temper their title expectations in the light of Barcelona’s resurgence under Xavi and the El Clasico rivalry is once again taking centre stage.
Meanwhile in England, Manchester United are one of a handful of teams trying to make ground on Manchester City and Liverpool and a top four place is the target.
Atletico will provide United’s stiffest test so far and they looked sharp enough in their opening fixture, the annual Memorial Jesus Gil game where they beat Numancia by 4-0.
Simeone tinkered with his formation during the game, moving from his 5-3-2 formation favoured over the past two seasons to a 4-4-2 after the break, using Rodrigo Riquelme as an offencive left winger.
Argentine wide-man Angel Correa was the pick of the Atleti players and he was one of the four on the score sheet, smashing in a volley to open the scoring.
Correa’s compatriot Rodrigo De Paul was also on target and Simeone will be looking for more goals from his midfielders this season, while Joao Felix looks ready to fulfil his potential as one Europe’s finest attacking players.
Ronaldo’s future still uncertain
One of the biggest Premier League stories of the summer has been the destiny of Cristiano Ronaldo who announced, quite early in the close season, that he wanted to pursue silverware elsewhere. Apparently, he had another meeting with ten Hag on Tuesday and has asked to be released from his contract at Old Trafford
Chelsea are keeping tabs on the situation and here at SBOTOP we’re keeping up with the very latest news as it happens. But the only other club CR7 has been linked with is Atletico Madrid, and a fan group has just released a statement giving their opinion in no uncertain terms.
They are a passionate bunch and Atletico’s International Union of Fan Clubs wrote: “In light of the possibility of signing Cristiano Ronaldo, we express our absolute rejection of his hypothetical joining of our club. The aforementioned player represents the antithesis of the values that constitute the hallmarks of our Atleti, such as the effort, generosity, modesty and humility of those who want to defend our values.”
Well, that’s pretty clear then!
The Atleti fans’ rejection of the idea may have something to do with Ronaldo’s record in the Madrid Derby. He scored 25 goals in 35 appearances for Real Madrid against Atleti, including four hat-tricks and two Champions League final victories over the club in 2014 and 2016.
Eriksen or Rashford?
Erik ten Hag has been pursuing fellow Dutchman Frenkie de Jong all summer, but the player still wants to stay at Barcelona and there is little movement at the moment. So, with just over a week to go before they open their Premier League campaign against Brighton and Hove Albion, the head coach is working with what he has.
The departure of Jesse Lingard to Forest means that there is more room for creative midfielders or wide-running attackers and, in United’s opening pre-season games, ten Hag has played with Jadon Sancho, Anthony Martial, and Marcus Rashford as a fluid front three.
Martial – who most United fans wanted to see the back of last season – has been the pick of the bunch in the Club Friendly 2022 highlights reel with three goals and an assist, while Sancho too has progressed under the new boss.
Summer recruit Christian Eriksen was on the scoresheet when he had a run out in a friendly win over Wrexham this week and it will be interesting to see whether he makes a start in United’s biggest test so far. There is just one more friendly game to come, at home to Rayo Vallecano and ten Hag needs to get close to a starting 11.
The boss seems to be having an effect on Martial but surely Eriksen must be in front of Rashford in his thoughts. The great Dane is a skilful operator and 100-per cent dependable when fit, while Rashford has made little or no progress over the past two campaigns.
As well as fine-tuning for the season ahead, this is an opportunity for Manchester United to measure their progress in the short time ten Hag has been on the training pitch. The two sides met in the 2021/22 Champions League Round of 16 back in March and Atleti had the resilience and guile to see off the Red Devils with little drama. Felix gave Los Rojiblancos an early lead in the home leg but Anthony Elanga levelled late in the game to give the Red Devils hope. But Brazilian defender Renan Lodi scored the only goal of the game at Old Trafford to take the La Liga side through to the quarter-finals.
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