Friday, November 1, 2024, 11:23
| Updated 2:38 p.m.
No team invested as much in strengthening its squad as Atlético de Madrid. A million-dollar project that sees for the first time, in the twelve years that Diego Simeone has been the red and white coach, he is ten points behind the leader after eleven days played. It’s all finals for a team that, despite being the one with the fewest goals scored in the national championship, is proving vulnerable, and that had never been within ten points of the leader at this point in the season.
He must, by obligation and by players, raise the level of demand. Fourth in the League, with two defeats in three Champions League games – currently they would be out of the next round – and carrying a regrettable image after the defeat against Betis, they arrive at the duel at the Metropolitano against Las Palmas in the worst stage of the Argentine coach at the head of the mattress ship. To date, and despite walking the wire on occasion during the last decade, nothing has ever happened to the Buenos Aires native. But of course, this time he is dealing with a squad and is further away than ever from the solid Barcelona.
Cholo doesn’t know if his good performances will save him again against his eternal rival, a limping Madrid that has transformed its oil pond into a tinderbox with a lot of noise in recent times. The classic game by game does not seem to be worth it to the most demanding fan, after getting excited about a squad that has been reinforced in all its lines and that is asked for greater competitiveness.
Atlético has lost the identity that led it to play in two Champions League finals and win two Leagues. That last league title is the one that marks the point of the fall of the rojiblancos. After eleven games in the League, the balance is five wins, five draws and one defeat. 16 points achieved out of 33 possible. Numbers that can be greatly improved if one begins the course with the idea, a priori, of fighting for the title against the two greats.
