Atletico Madrid disappoints on European debut
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Atletico Madrid's Champions League campaign got off to a disappointing start after the Spaniards could only draw 0-0 against Cypriot outfit APOEL FC.
Atletico had over 20 shots on goal, 10 of which were on target, during the 90 minutes in the Vicente Calderon, but was still unable to find an elusive goal.
Atletico kicked off in the middle o fan internal crisis at the club following demonstrations against the Directors before and after Saturday's 1-1 draw at home to Racing Santander.
Coach Abel Resino made several changes to his side, bringing Diego Forlan in to the starting 11, after the Uruguayan had begun the weekend's game on the bench.
Kun Aguero, Maxi Rodriguez, Simao and Jose Jurado were also in an attack minded team.
However, if anyone was expecting an easy ride against the Cypriot side, the first 45 minutes were to prove them wrong.
The first half was an even affair with APOEL creating chances of their own, although the Atletico fans will argue that Forlan and Simao had good chances to score.
The second half meanwhile was a monologue of Atletico attacks and saves from the excellent Cypriot keeper Dionisios Chotis.
Forlan and Simao tested the keeper in the first 10 minutes of the half, while Maxi also had an opportunity.
The Atletico supporters were clearly loosing patience with their players and the boos that echoed around the ground only served to make their players even more nervous.
To their credit the Atletico team kept on trying until the 90thminute and Forlan almost scored in injury time, but sadly for Atletico it was not to be and the pressure on coach Abel is growing with every game.
(Xinhua News Agency September 16, 2009)
