Luis Garc\u00eda on Atl\u00e9tico vs Liverpool
\n Islamabad
\nA lot of people are asking me whether I will be supporting Atl\u00e9tico or Liverpool this week, but it\u2019s like: \u201cWho do you love more, mummy or daddy?\u201d Atl\u00e9tico will always have a place in my heart because my season there, in 2002\/03, enabled me to get into the first team at Barcelona the following season, which was my dream when I was growing up, and I very much enjoyed going back there in 2007. However, because of what happened at Liverpool \u2013 winning the UEFA Champions League in 2005, and the way the city treated me and my family \u2013 they will always be my first-choice team.
\nApparently they still sing that song about me at Anfield: \u201cLuis Garc\u00eda, he drinks sangria, he came from Bar\u00e7a to Liverpool, he\u2019s five foot seven, he\u2019s football heaven\u2026\u201d Well, I\u2019m a little bit taller than that \u2013 more like five foot nine \u2013 but I do drink sangria, especially in the summer!
\nAt the moment, both Atl\u00e9tico and Liverpool look like candidates to win the whole competition. Atl\u00e9tico have pretty much the best squad in La Liga at the moment and this competition owes them; they have got to the final twice in recent seasons but didn\u2019t have the luck to win the trophy, and I am sure that will happen one day. However, at the moment, Liverpool look stronger, because they are getting more confidence and looking really fit.
\nAt the start of the season, a lot of people were saying Liverpool needed more players and that the squad wasn\u2019t big enough, but I always say that if you are not signing players to go straight into the first XI, maybe it\u2019s not the right choice. If you look at the current starting line-up, there have not been many changes since they won the UEFA Champions League and the Premier League and it\u2019s exciting to see what they can do with everybody fit.
\nAtl\u00e9tico have made a few changes in recent years; they can play with three at the back now and have made new additions in the creative area like Marcos Llorente and Yannick Carrasco. People talk about their striking options \u2013 \u00c1ngel Correa, Luis Su\u00e1rez, Matheus Cunha, Antoine Griezmann \u2013 but the Champions League isn\u2019t all about what you\u2019ve got up front. For me, it was always about being compact at the back and having forwards who can decide a game at any moment, and both Atl\u00e9tico and Liverpool have that.
\nLiverpool have Sadio Man\u00e9, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota, but their strength also lies in that balance further back; Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Naby Ke\u00efta and Curtis Jones in midfield, and the wing-backs \u2013 Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold \u2013 are two of the best in Europe.
\nLiverpool are maybe the more aggressive of the two sides going forward, but Atl\u00e9tico can play a high line too as well as sitting back and waiting to hit on the break.<\/p>\n
Obviously, I would love to see Liverpool win the competition because they are still my No1 team, but I wouldn\u2019t bet everything on them in an away game against Atl\u00e9tico because they are a very dangerous team, especially in front of their home crowd, and you have to give 120% to get anything from them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Luis Garc\u00eda on Atl\u00e9tico vs Liverpool Islamabad A lot of people are asking me whether I will be supporting Atl\u00e9tico or Liverpool this week, but it\u2019s like: \u201cWho do you love more, mummy or daddy?\u201d Atl\u00e9tico will always have a place in my heart because my season there, in 2002\/03, enabled me to get into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-222446","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n