Sunday 17 May 2015 20:57, UK
We look at five reasons why Atletico Madrid were not able to defend their Spanish title.
Last season’s La Liga winners go into Sunday’s game against current leaders Barcelona knowing that defeat will see the visitors crowned champions on their own turf.
But why do Diego Simeone’s side find themselves 13 points adrift this season? There are a number of reasons and it’s easy to see why nobody is pointing the finger of blame at Simeone…
Lightning doesn’t strike twice
First and foremost this should not be framed as a failure. In fact, last season was something of a sporting miracle. Perhaps the truly remarkable aspect of this season has been Atletico’s consistency in fashioning a plausible title defence. For while fellow recent Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund have slipped away, unable to compete with Bayern Munich’s might, Atletico’s big-spending rivals Real Madrid were only able to defeat Simeone’s side at the eighth attempt this season. Atletico couldn’t repeat the miracle but they are arguably still overachieving.
Unable to compete financially
While the new television deal might aid Atletico’s ambitions in the long term, for now they are the poor relations in their own city let alone Spain. Simeone is well aware that Atletico are unable to pay the wages or the transfer fees of the teams out to claim their title and has stressed from the outset that the club’s goals should be set accordingly. “We have to try to compete with Sevilla, Valencia and Athletic Bilbao for the Champions League places,” he said in August. “With €95 million (£75.5m) we have signed nine players, Real Madrid have signed two players for €95m. That is the difference.”
Key players left in the summer
Simeone continues to spend well but there is no escaping the fact that the exits of last summer were not ideal given their huge contributions to Atletico’s title triumph. Diego Costa scored in six out of seven games from March 2014 as the team powered away from their rivals at a crucial part of the campaign, while Thibaut Courtois conceded only one goal in nine games (all won) during that period. Add the impressive Filipe Luis and David Villa’s influence on team mentality – “He's used to playing to win and that's good for the team,” said Simeone – and there were a lot of qualities to replace.
Clean sheets were crucial again
Goals win games but Atletico’s achievements were built on their superior defensive record. As Revista de la Liga regular Terry Gibson put it: “Real Madrid and Barcelona might get 400 goals, and Atletico a fraction of that, but how many do you need to win a football match when you keep clean sheets every week?” Unfortunately, Atletico have already conceded more goals this season than last and were too open in the early part of the season. Indeed, they kept only eight clean sheets in their first 21 La Liga games. In contrast, Barca didn’t even concede their first goal until their ninth game.
Barcelona were back to their best
Barcelona’s response to the challenge laid down by Atletico has been relentless. “The goal is to keep winning matches,” said Luis Enrique in January and even into May the Barca boss is still repeating that mantra. His players are listening too. With 90 points to their name, they’ve already hit Atletico’s tally from last season with two games to spare. In fact, Barcelona’s brilliance has left so little room for manoeuvre that even if Atletico had won all 18 of their games since losing at the Nou Camp in January, they’d still need to avoid defeat on Sunday if they wanted to be top of the table.
Watch Atletico v Barcelona live on Sky Sports 5 from 5.30pm on Sunday
