WEDNESDAY’S Champions League last 16 first leg at home to Juventus is a last chance saloon for Atletico Madrid’s season, and maybe also a crux moment for Diego Simeone’s time as rojiblanco coach.
Last week’s announcement that Simeone had extended his contract with Atletico up to 2022, with a big pay-rise included, comes right before easily the team’s biggest game of the campaign.
Atletico have already slipped out of the Copa del Rey, and fallen adrift of leaders Barcelona in La Liga, and have with the extra pressure/motivation of the UCL final being at their Wanda Metropolitano this year.
The new deal news capped an excellent week personally for Simeone, who had days earlier celebrated the birth of another daughter. But it also came amid increasing questioning of the direction his side is taking.
For at least three seasons now there has been a clear hope both inside and outside Atletico that the team’s style of play could evolve from the ‘dogs of war’ style championed by former rojiblanco player Simeone when he returned to the club as coach in December 2011.
This season’s signings of ballplayers Thomas Lemar, Rodrigo and Alvaro Morata was the latest sign Atletico wanted to be more expansive on the pitch. These being direct or indirect replacements for less naturally talented but veterans of many past battles like Raul Garcia, Gabi and Fernando Torres.
That revolution has yet to be realised. There have been few signs of a more expansive passing style, while the team’s previous warrior spirit has been badly missing in recent weeks, especially in the first back to back La Liga defeats of Simeone’s seven years in charge. 0-1 at Betis was bad enough, but the 1-3 derbi loss to Real Madrid was emphatic, with it especially telling how Real seemed to be more physical and aggressive when the game was there to be won in the second half.
“Atleti used to be utterly horrible to play against for rivals either domestic or European,” wrote Graham Hunter on ESPN last week. “They harassed you, chased you, barged you, out-fought you; they scared the living daylights out of most opponents. No longer.”
Atletico’s players also reacted badly to most of the debatable VAR decisions going against them, losing their spirit, and succumbing limply in the end. Simeone refused to blame the refereeing at the post-game news conference, but the club’s official twitter account suggested they felt hard done by.
— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) February 9, 2019
“Atletico cannot hide behind a victimhood that Simeone banished,” wrote Inako Diaz Guerra in El Mundo. “Returning to that would be a very bad sign. In just a week Los Rojiblancos gave up in La Liga, just as they had dropped out of the Copa del Rey. Against Betis they didn’t want to, against Madrid they couldn’t, above all, react to adversity. Cholo’s old tough fighter, who never dropped his hands, goes down to the canvas now if somebody blows at him. There is no excuse for that.”
Simeone has, of course, rejected this negative narrative, and talked at the announcement of his new deal about being “excited” about the future. However, he must know things are not going exactly as planned. It seems likely that confirming his long-rumoured payrise just now was to try and lift spirits inside and outside the dressing room at this vital moment.
The biggest sign that Simeone knows his team needs more bite was the reaction to Diego Costa making his long-awaited return from foot surgery in last weekend’s quite fortunate 1-0 La Liga victory at neighbours Rayo Vallecano. Costa has appeared halfway to China at times this season, and has scored just four goals in all competitions. But the 30-year-old gets himself up against the biggest opponents – two of the four came against Madrid in the UEFA Supercup, while his only La Liga goal this season was against Barcelona in November.
Entering at 0-0 on Saturday for his first playing time since early December, Costa immediately set about ruffling some feathers, squaring up to marker Jordi Amat, and unsettling a three-man Rayo central defence which had previously handled Morata very comfortably. A fluffed clearance soon led to Antoine Griezmann’s deflected winning goal.
“[Costa] was very strong, it was not easy to come into this game but he did what the team needed, worked very well,” Simeone said afterwards. “That makes me very happy. He is very important as people fear him, and he gives us more strength as a team. His entry helped turn the game our way.”
Picking the returning Costa over the club’s marquee January signing Morata to start on Wednesday would be a sign that Simeone knows his team needs to get back to basics. Even less than fully fit Costa would be more likely to “scare the living daylights out of” Juventus’ grizzled defence than their much better behaved former teammate Morata. And the Brazilian’s infectious energy and aggression is needed throughout the Atletico team.
Simeone's side have proven themselves capable of lifting themselves for big Champions League games regularly through recent seasons, regardless of recent La Liga form. We are set to find out whether 'Cholo’s old tough fighter' can pick himself back up again.
A £10 bet on Atletico to beat Juve returns £29.50
