Atlético de Madrid have to a large degree shaken things up this season, not just domestically in Spain but in Europe too.
In recent times, La Liga has been a closed shop for honours, with Barcelona and Real Madrid the only tomcat’s on the block who are ever going to have a realistic shot of bringing home any bacon. Inevitably, it always ends up with that duo running away with things, disposing of the cannon fodder in La Liga and wrestling it out between them for the title.
This campaign, under the astute guidance of the steely, charismatic, but not without charm 43-year-old former midfield lynchpin Diego Simeone, Atlético have stood toe to toe with both Barca & Real domestically and last night they dumped Barca out of the Champions League.
Atlético are not short on flair and a handful of ‘star players’, but they are very much ‘a team’, their ethos of winning or losing together seems embedded into the fabric of this team. Their work ethic & desire is very much an embodiment of their manager and breathing that in, maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised? Sure Atlético don’t have the financial muscle of Real or Barca, not even close in fact, but they certainly do have good players, an incredible focus & a desire to win matches!
One would be forgiven for drawing parallels with the Borussia Dortmund team of the last 2/3 years. A team of great tradition & pedigree, who in reality had the handicap of not being financially capable of competing with their biggest domestic rival(s) (Bayern Munich), but under the guidance of a young, hungry & innovative manager, turned heads & put themselves in a position to contest for the biggest prizes!
At Dortmund Jürgen Klopp is charged by many to have started a revolution. Not just in the basic sense of making his team competitive, but by playing wonderful football, signing & developing players full of raw ability, but not enough to persuade the biggest fish to make a play for and have many club managers in a similar position follow his lead in an attempt to punch above their weight .
Dortmund have struggled domestically this campaign. At the risk of being a tubthumper for Klopp’s men, BVB have been ravaged by key injuries throughout the campaign & their traditional rivals Bayern have been on another level from the day the season kicked off in Germany. Regardless, the day Klopp decides he wants to fly the nest at the Westfalenstadion & try his luck at a new club, most likely in another League/Country, there’ll be no shortage of Chairmen looking to persuade the larger than life German to take the reigns of their club.
Simeone is now in a similar position to that of the Dortmund chief one or two years back. His stock & reputation has risen based on results, tactical acumen & an infectious nature that has visibly rubbed off on his players.
There’s still much to play for, with Simeone’s men having secured safe passage into the Semi-Finals of the Champions League and now they sit at the top of La Liga, a point clear of Barca in with but a handful of games left as the season draws to a dramatic close. The margin for error at this stage is often wafer-thin & as of yet, they’ve won nothing, but they’ve certainly captured the imagination of even the most ice cold neutral football fan.
Inevitably, there’s talk of a summer plundering of Simeone’s team in the summer by the likes of Chelsea, Barcelona & the rest of Europe’s ‘big spenders’. There’s also predictable speculation that there may be one or two clubs with an eye on Simeone himself.
Atlético look to be on the rise, Simeone has pieced his army together, seems to have harmony within the ranks & has created something exciting that you’d think players would want to be a part of. It would seem a crying shame to see something so beautiful dismantled & the old order restored where only handful have that divine right to challenge for honours and have the pick of the better players on the market.
Much like Klopp at Dortmund, the ‘hipsters’ & neutral fans who yearn to champion the underdog are all to happy to run Simeone’s flag up their pole & pledge allegiance, and why not?
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