Atletico Madrid finally got the better game against their rival Real Madrid on the European stage. The Atletis thrashed the opponent scoring twice in extra time to win 4-2 the Uefa Super Cup final. Atletico got off to a flying start earlier in the match. Diego Costa scored the fastest goal of the competition in just 50 seconds, though Madrid came back to take a 2-1 lead as Los Blancos tried to prove they can still win trophies without Ronaldo and with a new coach.
Moreover, Costa wasn’t a man who accepts defeat so early. He equalised late in the match with his second goal. Saul Niguez and Koke sealed the victory in extra time on a cool night in Estonia’s capital. The victory of Atletico Madrid was over its crosstown rival and it added a whole new significance after losing two Champions League finals to Madrid in 2014 and 2016.
Diego Simeone’s side was also eliminated by Madrid in the 2017 semi-finals. The loss has left the new Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui still having to prove that Madrid is still alive. He has now a huge task to prove that there is life after Ronaldo in Madrid, who scored 450 goals in 438 matches for them.
The Portuguese joined Juventus this summer and helped lead the club to three straight Champions League titles. Gareth Bale did his best and showed some glimpses of his pace and skill though was nowhere near the abilities which make Ronaldo a decider of the game on his own. Instead, Costa was the man who dominated at the Lillekula Stadium in Tallinn. The former Chelsea man overpowered Madrid’s centre-backs in the first minute after a long ball from Stefan Savic.
He first won a header against Sergio Ramos and then muscled past Raphael Varane to cut into the area in the angle where he beat goalkeeper Keylor Navas at the near post. Costa fell out badly with the former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte after leading the side to the title in the season of 2015/16. Though Conte decided to cut off the Brazilian born striker and informed him by text that he wasn’t welcome back at the club.
The Spanish International had to wait until January to make his move back to Atletico and it proved a worth of a wait when he lifted the Europa League in May. His former teammate Fabregas is known as one of his closest friends who couldn’t help himself congratulating Costa’s second goal. He tweeted his support for his international team-mate by going simply just: ‘DIEGO’.
It got viral on social media and the response was all too much for some Chelsea fans to handle. The fans of the Blues would do anything to bring Costa back to the club and they love the striker. Retweets got showered having ‘bring him back’ and ‘we miss you’ stuffs. Costa did help immensely to grab the title last time for Chelsea and the Blues may never compensate their loss by losing their one of the best strikers ever after Didier Drogba.
