We’re knee-deep in churros and Mahou for this week’s Crisis Club, gorging our bodyweight in both until our waistbands expand to breaking point.
That’s right, it’s time to take a look at Atletico Madrid, those great sh*thouses of yesteryear, who are having a hard time putting themselves back together after their own decadent explosions in La Liga and the Champions League over the past week or so.
Like his hair, is Diego Simeone’s unique brand of anti-football starting to wear a little thin in Spain? Time to dig in, with another plate of croquetas while we’re at it please, Señor. God, I miss Spanish food.
It began two weeks ago during Atletico’s Champions League game against Bayer Leverkusen. With the scores level, Atleti were very generously awarded a penalty for handball on the very last kick of the game. The Wanda Metropolitano erupted and Simeone, who was halfway down the tunnel already resigned to a draw and an early group stage exit, came skulking back to watch the 98th-minute spot-kick.
Up stepped Yannick Carrasco to fire straight into Lukas Hradecky, Saul Niguez to head the rebound off the bar and Reinildo to hit that rebound against Carrasco and out of play.
Three days later, they played second-from-bottom Cadiz in La Liga and went a goal down inside 30 seconds. Cadiz made it two in the 81st minute and that looked like that until a Joao Felix-inspired comeback levelled things at 2-2 with just over a minute over normal time remaining. You can probably sense what’s coming here. A 98th-minute counterattack and fortuitous winner for the Andalucian minnows with the last kick, no, accidental thigh of the game.
Since then Atleti have lost to Porto, ruling them out of Europe altogether as Leverkusen snatched third place in the group and consequent Europa League spot, and drawn at home with relegation-battlers Espanyol. Who were a man down from the 28th minute. And also took the lead.
Once again, they only scored (and looked like scoring) through an individual moment of Joao Felix brilliance.
‘El Cholo’ is coming up to 11 years in charge of Atletico Madrid this December and has a contract until 2024 that makes him the best paid head coach in world football. Alongside Luis Aragones and Helenio Herrera he will go down as one of their greatest ever managers. You can’t overstate the job he has done with Atleti given that the club spent two seasons in the Segunda Division at the turn of the millennium and had finished seventh the season prior to his arrival….
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