Atletico Madrid have a problem. The current champions of Spain fell to fourth place in La Liga on Saturday after a goalless draw at Espanyol. More worryingly, however, Diego Simeone's side have now netted only once in their last four fixtures and over 400 minutes in total.
Against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday night, they will need to do better. A goal down from the first leg in Germany, the Rojiblancos require a real performance to overturn that deficit and advance to the last eight of a competition they lit up last season by progressing to the final in Lisbon.
"I want the Calderon to be noisy like on the nights they have pushed us on to achieve things in the past," Simeone said on Monday in the pre-match press conference. "I hope there is not a minute of silence throughout the whole match."
The Argentine coach often calls on the fans to lift his team in times of need. And now is one of those times: eliminated in the Copa del Rey at the quarter-final stage and out of the title race too, the Champions League is the only trophy target remaining in a season which has also seen Atleti claim the Spanish Supercopa.
That came after a two-legged success over city rivals Real Madrid in August, but since thrashing Carlo Ancelotti's side 4-0 in La Liga on February 7, Atletico have struggled for wins and goals as well.
A disappointing 2-0 defeat at Celta Vigo followed and although Atleti bounced back the following weekend with a 3-0 win at home to Almeria, the three goals came in the opening half an hour and Simeone's side have scored only one in 421 minutes of football since Antoine Griezmann netted the third in that match.
Against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday night, they will need to do better. A goal down from the first leg in Germany, the Rojiblancos require a real performance to overturn that deficit and advance to the last eight of a competition they lit up last season by progressing to the final in Lisbon.
"I want the Calderon to be noisy like on the nights they have pushed us on to achieve things in the past," Simeone said on Monday in the pre-match press conference. "I hope there is not a minute of silence throughout the whole match."
The Argentine coach often calls on the fans to lift his team in times of need. And now is one of those times: eliminated in the Copa del Rey at the quarter-final stage and out of the title race too, the Champions League is the only trophy target remaining in a season which has also seen Atleti claim the Spanish Supercopa.
That came after a two-legged success over city rivals Real Madrid in August, but since thrashing Carlo Ancelotti's side 4-0 in La Liga on February 7, Atletico have struggled for wins and goals as well.
A disappointing 2-0 defeat at Celta Vigo followed and although Atleti bounced back the following weekend with a 3-0 win at home to Almeria, the three goals came in the opening half an hour and Simeone's side have scored only one in 421 minutes of football since Antoine Griezmann netted the third in that match.
After the victory over Almeria at the Calderon, Atletico lost 1-0 at Leverkusen in the Champions League in a result Simeone conceded "could have been worse", before being held to a goalless draw by Sevilla at the Sanchez Pizjuan. The goal drought then finally came to an end after 274 minutes as Koke converted with a drive following a set piece at home to Valencia, but the visitors' late leveller all but ended the Rojiblancos' title hopes and the goalless draw at Espanyol on Saturday saw them drop to fourth.
"We lacked precision against Valencia and at Espanyol their goalkeeper (Kiko Casilla) was Man of the Match," Simeone said on Monday. "We have to keep insisting, keep believing in what we're doing. We need to keep a cool head and we need to have a strategy."
Set-piece plays have been one of the main strategies for Simeone's Atletico since he took over in 2011 and the team worked on dead-ball situations behind closed doors at the official training session on Monday.
Diego Godin and Tiago miss the second-leg match through suspension, but Simeone refused to reveal which of his misfiring forwards will start against Leverkusen.
Griezmann was overworked and starved of service on Saturday, while Fernando Torres has only scored in the Copa del Rey since his return, while Mario Mandzukic has had his attitude questioned in recent weeks and Raul Jimenez has virtually sunk without trace since his summer signing from Mexican side Club America.
But whoever plays, they will need to step up - because Atleti's season now depends on it.
"We are not worried by the lack of goals," midfielder Mario Suarez said on Monday in the official press conference. "All of our forwards are world class. Strikers live off streaks and I'm sure one of them will score a goal to help us achieve our objective [on Tuesday]."
Everyone at Atleti will hope he is right.
"We lacked precision against Valencia and at Espanyol their goalkeeper (Kiko Casilla) was Man of the Match," Simeone said on Monday. "We have to keep insisting, keep believing in what we're doing. We need to keep a cool head and we need to have a strategy."
Set-piece plays have been one of the main strategies for Simeone's Atletico since he took over in 2011 and the team worked on dead-ball situations behind closed doors at the official training session on Monday.
Diego Godin and Tiago miss the second-leg match through suspension, but Simeone refused to reveal which of his misfiring forwards will start against Leverkusen.
Griezmann was overworked and starved of service on Saturday, while Fernando Torres has only scored in the Copa del Rey since his return, while Mario Mandzukic has had his attitude questioned in recent weeks and Raul Jimenez has virtually sunk without trace since his summer signing from Mexican side Club America.
But whoever plays, they will need to step up - because Atleti's season now depends on it.
"We are not worried by the lack of goals," midfielder Mario Suarez said on Monday in the official press conference. "All of our forwards are world class. Strikers live off streaks and I'm sure one of them will score a goal to help us achieve our objective [on Tuesday]."
Everyone at Atleti will hope he is right.
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