February Report
The fixtures continued to come thick and fast, especially for Atletico Madrid who played eight matches yet again in February. With the league hitting crunch time and the UEFA Champions League 1st Knockout Stage finally beginning, there was plenty to talk about despite the shortness of the 28 day month.
AUGSBURG 0-2 BORUSSIA DORTMUND (BUNDESLIGA)
Marco Reus (x2) BORUSSIA DORTMUND 4-1 STUTTGART (BUNDESLIGA) Marco Reus (x2), Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang BORUSSIA DORTMUND 2-0 BARCELONA (CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 1ST KNOCKOUT RND LEG 1) Karim Bellarabi, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang MAINZ 1-2 BORUSSIA DORTMUND (BUNDESLIGA) Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan BORUSSIA DORTMUND 2-0 FREIBURG () Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (x2)
It was yet another perfect month for Borussia Dortmund as they stormed their way to five straight victories. Outscoring their opponents 12-2, Brian Laudrup will be very pleased with the way his team performed and managed to hold on to all of their leads.
Marco Reus and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were the obvious standouts of February. The players combined for nine goals, four and five respectively, and were the two most deadly prongs of der BVB's attack. While Reus's position on the left flank has never been under threat, Aubameyang has almost certainly fought his way into the starting striker role for some weeks at least.
While the four Bundesliga wins were certainly important in trying to keep up with Bayern, there was one game that stood out from all the rest; the 2-0 defeat of Barcelona at Signal Iduna Park. The game was made even more special as Mats Hummels made his return to the Westfalenstadion and was greeted by raucous boos.
Perhaps taking notes from his brother, Michael, who downed La Blaugrana 5-3 at the Camp Nou last month with Atletico, Brian opted to start his side in a very attacking, high-press formation. This paid off almost immediately; Marco Reus, in the unstoppable form that he was in, slashed his way past ex-teammate Mats Hummels before cutting the ball back to Karim Bellarabi to score. A second half goal from Aubameyang sealed the deal.
Dortmund are now in prime position to advance to the quarterfinals next month, but another major fixture looms; der BVB will have to make the trek to the Allianz Arena and take on Bayern Munich. Already trailing by eight points in the league, this game is nothing short of must-win.
EIBAR 0-3 ATLETICO MADRID (LA LIGA) Angel Correa (x2), Diego Godin CELTA VIGO 0-2 ATLETICO MADRID (COPA DEL REY SEMIFINAL LEG 1) Raul Garcia, Mario Suarez ATLETICO MADRID 2-0 REAL MDARID (LA LIGA) Angel Correa, Mario Mandzukic ATLETICO MADRID 3-1 (5-1) CELTA VIGO (COPA DEL REY SEMIFINAL LEG 2) Lukas Podolski, Antoine Griezmann (x2) CELTA VIGO 1-3 ATLETICO MADRID (LA LIGA) Joao Miranda, Arda Turan, Guilherme Siqueira ELCHE 1-4 ATLETICO MADRID (LA LIGA) Mario Mandzukic (x2), Arda Turan, Saul ATLETICO MADRID 5-0 ALMERIA (LA LIGA) Angel Trujillo (OG), Jose Gimenez, Raul Garcia (x2), Arda Turan
JUVENTUS 1-1 ATLETICO MADRID (CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 1ST KNOCKOUT RND LEG 1) Mattia Destro
After a January of eight matches, another month rolled around, and another eight matches rolled around for Atletico Madrid. Even though their win streak was eventually snapped, Los Colchoneros continue to be unbeatable, and look good value for money on their current lead atop La Liga BBVA.
More impressively, the team managed to win these points without influential central midfielder Koke. The Spanish international, who burst onto the scene last season with Diego Simeone, was ruled out for three weeks with strained ankle ligaments. Youngster Saul definitely stepped up to the plate to fill in, scoring twice and being a conductor in midfield.
Positively for the capital city side, they managed to hammer Celta Vigo over two legs to advance to the Copa del Rey final, where they will play FC Barcelona. The second leg especially looked promising for new signing Lukas Podolski who scored once and assisted twice, showing why Michael Laudrup had such faith in him.
The biggest game was the Derby Madrileno, however. Following the Supercopa loss and the 4-1 hammering at the Santiago Bernabeu, the 2-0 win at the Vicente Calderon was nothing short of orgasmic for the Mattress Makers faithful. With Real Madrid missing both Ronaldo and Bale, Angel Correa and Mario Mandzukic's goals in the second half sealed the way to a huge victory to put them clear in La Liga.
Things went reasonably well in the Champions League as well. Even though Juventus managed 5 times as many shots in their home stadium, it was Mattia Destro's 78th minute strike that put the Spaniards up 1-0. Paul Pogba's 30 yard lightning bolt in the 85th sealed a draw, however, and now Atletico can return home with an away goal advantage.
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