THE VICTORY OF ATLETICO AND LIVERPOOL WOULD BE A VICTORY FOR FOOTBALL

The world of football has been overshadowed by two fairy tales; firstly we have Liverpool’s exciting title run in context of a pantheon of great football upsets and then in Spain another equally fascinating title run is developing, with preseason long shot Atletico Madrid now sitting on top of the La Liga table with only five games to play.

On one hand, Atletico has to overcome two massive mountains, a few minor hills, and then it is relatively easy sailing. Liverpool on the other hand has to combat a never ending series of climbs worthy of all the hardest mountain stages of the Tour de France. Both these clubs have played some lovely football to reach this stage and now it’s for them to lose.
If both Atletico and Liverpool win their respective leagues it would certainly be a victory of football over money. These sides have proved a point to the world the famous tagline “Money can’t buy everything”; atleast not the title. "Clubs spend a billion quid and it does not guarantee anything. We will be in the market for good and top players, but there is more to it than that,” Brendon Rodgers said regarding huge spending clubs.  He added "The money is great and we will be in the market to compete, but what is important is still having a vision of how you want the club to progress."

Liverpool is a former league heavy weight who is enduring a twenty three year title drought. The club finished seventh the previous season, and has spent the last four seasons out of the top five. It’s no secret that Liverpool is winning the support of the neutral English fans. A combination of exciting football, combined with its underdog status and universal antipathy towards the bigger “money” clubs is seeing Liverpool adopt the moniker of “people’s favourite”.

Atletico Madrid, on the other hand, is a nine-time league champion that hasn’t won La Liga since 1995-96 (although it did win the Spanish Segunda Division in 2000-01). However, the club has shown steady progress over a number of years, since finishing ninth in the 2009/10 season. Since then they have finished seventh, fifth and third with a number one title would be the natural progression in this perfect mathematical sequence. Atletico features in the champion’s league semifinal as well where it faces Mourinho’s men and they all will be all determined to give them a run for their money.

The journeys till this point for both the teams have been stupendous but until and unless you win the title, the world forgets your brave deeds and you don’t have the rights to go down in the history books. All the neutral fans would be certainly rooting for these two clubs to come out on top because they would love to see the sport of football to win instead of money. As the world waits, we wish that both these teams become fairy tale princesses by walking away with their heads held high along with the titles.