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The return against Atletico then. This was the fixture just over 18 months ago before what we see as normality changed for the entire planet. When you consider that at the time Covid was tearing through Madrid almost as badly as what was happening in Bergamo, Italy, you have to wonder why the authorities allowed fans to travel from Madrid. A bad result was compounded by the event becoming a Covid hotspot. Many who were there that night are no longer with us. Know-how. Nerve. Opportunity. Class. Kicks. Organisation. Urgency. Tactical nous. Strength. Tenacity. Audacity. Graft. Energy. I don’t ask for much. Just going back to that game, it had all been going so well for the most part. Gini had given us the lead before half time to level on aggregate, and then Bobby put us ahead in the tie when he found the net at Anfield for the first time that season shortly after extra time began. The Spaniards were grateful that Oblak in goal was having a worldy. It’s the events after that for which the game is best remembered. Adrian’s awful clearance and then lack of positional awareness gave Llorente a goal back and put them back in front on away goals. We now needed at least 1 more and it meant we had to go for it and leave some gaps. Atletico exploited that when Llorente got his second, and then just before the final whistle we got carved open on the halfway like and Chelsea flop Morata won the match. Late April 2010 of a really tumultuous season saw us come up against Atletico in the semi finals of the Europa League. We’d played poorly in the first leg and trailed, and we would also be without Nando for the rest of the reason after he picked up a knee injury that curtailed his season. During his spell with us, we played his former club 4 times and he didn’t appear in any of those games. Anyway, we showed more energy and creativity in this game against the Spaniards than we had for most of the season. Aquilani climbed off his sickbed and looked bright and effective in this one, and it was he who gave us the lead, firing home after a bright move down our right. An even better move than that had almost resulted in a goal for Dirk, and that would have been one of the goals of the season had we scored. It was still a tight game but early in extra time, Lucas chipped over an inch-perfect ball to the edge of the area and into the path of Yossi, and he did the rest, firing the ball past a young De Gea. We were now ahead but much like the game in 2020, a defensive lapse caused us to concede an away goal. Glen Johnson, played at left back, was caught out by a long diagonal which let Reyes in, and his ball across the box was buried by Forlan. It was they rather than us who would take on Fulham in the final. The number one film at the box office at the end of April 2010 was a remake of 80s classic A Nightmare On Elm Street. Like many a pointless remake, it is absolutely shite. What else is there to say? The site I’m using looks at the top film in the US on any given date, and it’s obvious that audiences over there turn out in their droves to watch any old shite. They probably stream any old shite nowadays too, which is why pointless remakes like this make so much money and are so profitable. Simeone was steaming after the game in Madrid, so it would be fully in keeping for he and his team to ramp up the shithousery for this one. For the first half of that game, I don’t think there was much of it in evidence but in the second half, and especially after Griezmann had been sent off, they were trying all they could to get the ref to even up the numbers. Simeone was practically glued to the fourth official. And then they brought on Suarez and we all know he will try anything to get his team a win. I loved it when he did that for us because he was so brazen it was comical, but it is annoying as fuck to be on the receiving end. The ref will have to be strong, but so will we.We have to play our game and do what we need to do to secure our place in the Round of !6, and not fall for all the shenanigans. Just get the job done and don’t let the game become a soporific rehash of a damp squib horror show.