Spanish Football Club Atletico Madrid qualified for the Quarter-final phase of Champions League after knocking out Dutch Club PSV Eindhoven after extra-time & the penalty shoot-out. Atletico won 8 - 7 with the sad part going to PSV forward Narsingh who hit the bar, missing his penalty shoot to see later Atletico defender Juan Fran score the final winner.
Bad luck for the Dutch, who lost the "Russian Roulette" tie breaker. Congratulations to Atletico de Madrid which held firm, true to their Football spirit & faith in themselves to take them on into the next stage UEFA European competition.
The 90 mins was a true battle between a team always attacking & the other defending well with an excellent goalkeeper Zoet who made some importante saves. Both had their chances but Atletico was more creative & more attacking throughout the whole match.
Not to take anything away from PSV which used its strengths & played their cards well under the tough circumstances. The strategy nearly paid off as the match went into extra-time & into the penalties. Only the mistake - shot by Narsingh that hit the cross-bar was the push that tipped the balance in favour of the Spanish team.
Tomorrow is the turn of Spanish Club FC Barcelona which has its qualifier well in line to jump into the Quarter-final stage, barring a disaster.
Spanish Football Club & last season Spanish Liga Champions Atletico de Madrid continue to work to strengthen their squad for the upcoming 2014-2015 season. According to Club directives there are still 3 more signings to be made before the shutting the bank account.
One of those could be Belgium & PSV Eindhoven 18 year old promise Zakaria Bakkali.
According to news out from Dutch daily "De Telegraaf" Atletico de Madrid has come to a full agreement with PSV Eindhoven for around 2-3M€. What is now needed is that Atletico de Madrid negotiate an agreement with the player.
If the negotiations get to good port, Bakkali would become a future bet for Atletico & an important reinforcement up-front in the attack where he can support other new Club signings like Mario Mandzukic & Antoine Griezmann.
Stay tuned!
According to news just in to Spanish Sports daily "Marca", via its online channel, FC BARCELONA has come to an agreement with PSV EINDHOVEN for the transfer of 24 year old midfielder IBRAHIM AFELLAY. The Dutchman will arrive in Juanuary 2011 during the "Winter Transfer Market" opening window. The player finishes contract this season & would have become a "free agent" as of the 1ºst of January 2011, thus his Club has sold him "prematurely" to at least get some money before seeing Afellay leave without gaining a cent.
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| Ibrahim Afellay |
The deal is said to be around 3M€ & the young player signs for 4 to 5 seasons with Barça. This way Coach Guardiola has an extra option & a quality player with Xavi Hernandez experiencing spells of "suffering" from his delicate ankles - just in case.
