BARCELONA, Sep 16: Antoine Griezmann jeered. Sergi Roberto booed. Sevilla thankful it drew with a team from Austria.
Spanish teams used to look forward to the end of summer and the return of the Champions League.
Not this time. Of five Spanish teams, Real Madrid was the only one that could manage a win from the opening batch of games in Europe’s elite competition.
And even Madrid will be relieved to get back to the Spanish league on Sunday when it visits Valencia with both tied on points atop the table with Atlético Madrid.
Valencia has exceeded expectations under new coach José Bordalás and a breakout season by Carlos Soler.
But Carlo Ancelotti will be expecting his Madrid to offer more in Mestalla Stadium than just another gritty defensive performance that kept it alive against Inter Milan on Wednesday. Rodrgyo’s was only the second shot Madrid managed at Inter’s goal in the entire match.
Overwhelmed 3-0 by Bayern Munich, Barcelona was unable to muster a single shot on goal in the entire match on Tuesday.
The crowd, back at Camp Nou for its first European match since the start of the pandemic, took out its frustration on Roberto. The homegrown player was booed when he was substituted after being outplayed by Bayern’s Davies.
Coach Ronald Koeman and club president Joan Laporta have asked for their fans to be patient, but the pressure will be immense on the team to respond with a convincing victory when the winless Granada visits on Monday.
Atlético’s talented attack was stymied by Porto in a scoreless stalemate on Wednesday, when Antoine Griezmann weathered an unpleasant welcome at Wanda Metropolitano Stadium. The France forward was booed both before kickoff and when he came on as a substitute. Many Atlético fans are still angry that he left the team for Barcelona two years ago.
But an attack that can also field Luis Suárez, João Félix, Ángel Correa and Yannick Carrasco could still not find a way to break Porto.
When Sevilla visits Real Sociedad on Sunday, it will hope to avoid the amateurish mistakes that cost it a 1-1 draw with Salzburg.
Sevilla committed three penalties, all from rash tackles, in the first half on Tuesday. Sevilla ended up considering the point a good result after striker Youssef En-Nesyri was sent off shortly after halftime with a second booking.
Also, Villarreal drew with Atalanta 2-2 and remained winless in five matches across all competitions in this campaign. Last season’s Europa League winner will try to break its bad run when it travels to Mallorca on Sunday. (AP)
