JIM MCGUINNESS admits watching Atletico Madrid lose the Champions League final on Saturday brought back memories of Donegal’s All-Ireland final defeat against Kerry two years ago.
McGuinness watched Saturday’s Champions League final – which Atletico lost to Real Madrid on penalties following a 1-1 draw in Malin – in Bilbao, where he was attending a conference on psychology in football.
[adrotate group=”66″]The former Donegal manager felt there were similarities in the performance of the side managed by Diego Simeone and his own in 2014 – where they failed to take their normal level of intensity onto the biggest stage of all.
“It was an interesting one for me because here was the Champions league final and inevitably, 2014 All-Ireland final went through my mind,” McGuinness wrote in his column in today’s Irish Times. “I was trying to make sense of what was going on. Every team has its core values. Whether you like Real or Atletico, everyone has their own style and so not to impose that on the biggest day of all is a big disappointment.
[adrotate group=”37”]“I thought back to 2014 and the morning after that final. And honestly it is the worst place you can be in your sporting life, having to face that day. You feel stunned. That is the only word. You feel stunned and numb. You are struggling to work out what happened. You are walking about in a daze.
“Everything else around you – real life, in other words – becomes meaningless. You are base line operating. You are vacant and in a different place. And that feeling isn’t going away any time soon. You know you have to put yourself through the torture of processing it and coming out the other end. And for a huge game, like the Champions League, that can take months. And that’s what the Atletico management and squad are facing into.”
Please click here to read Jim McGuinness’s column in full
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