La Liga team performance: Atlético Madrid would like to defend their title

The third one in a row. A big, yet underrated club. Call Atlético Madrid what you will, but last year it dethroned the Barcelona, Real Madrid duo for the first time since the 2013/14 season. Diego Simeone would like another big success, he would like to defend the title. Can he do it?

Atlético is building on an excellent season last year. After seven years, they once again broke the domination of Barcelona and Real Madrid and won the league title. A great success and a great shock for Spanish football fans who did not expect something like this.

Barcelona were very disappointed with third place, but in a way it was their own fault. For just seven million euros, the Rojiblancos let go of striker Luis Suarez, one of the modern icons of the Catalan club.

Suarez caught on immediately after the transfer and started scoring goals almost every game. After the last 38 rounds, his goals and assists column was 21+3. An incredible record for a thirty-four year old. So you can probably understand that it was El Pistolero who decided the trophy for the lesser known Madrid team.

In addition to Suarez, his successor is also on the rise. Although Joao Felix hasn’t yet paid back the large sum he came for, his performances in the second season can’t be compared to the first. Especially the autumn part of the season was excellent for the skilful Portuguese.

The midfield is also busy. The central trio of Saul Niguez, Koke, Marcos Llorente is very good, from the bench they can be complemented by Hector Herrera or Geoffrey Kondogbia. Atleti fans have already forgotten about Thomas Partey and the truth is that even Diego Simeone didn’t expect things to go this well without the long-time mainstay.

Alongside Saul or Koke, the Argentine pilot can also deploy Rodrigo de Paula in a new role. This is his compatriot who was one of the best box-to-box midfielders in Serie A. He also confirmed his good performances at the Copa América this summer.

For many years, the defence was considered Atletico’s main weapon, but that is no longer the case. The line-up no longer features defensive-minded flankers and Diego Godín in top form, with Renan Lodi and Kieran Trippier running around on the left and right, who are certainly no strangers to offensive forays.

Although the stopper duo of José María Gimenez – Stefan Savic and José María Gimenez – Mario Hermoso are not nearly as confident as they were under Godín, Atleti have scored the fewest goals of any team in the league (25).

There is no need to write long essays about the goalkeeper. Jan Oblak has confirmed season after season that he is one of the five best goalkeepers of the last decade. In terms of reflexes, he is second to none.

Apart from de Paula, Atlético’s management is not very active. The only other reinforcement is the 20-year-old winger Marcos Paulo, then only returnees from guest appearances.

Lucas Torreira and Moussa Dembele had to pack their bags (both only guest appearances from Arsenal and Celtic), as well as winger Vitolo and striker Nicolas Ibanez, who never got a proper chance to prove himself.

If Atleti can bring in one more stopper, they can easily defend their championship title. However, only on one condition, that at least one of the Suarez, Felix duo is in top form.

2nd place

Source: Atlético de Madrid