This team has approached the leadership of the unstoppable FC Barcelona

The team led by the Argentinean Diego Simeone has a game system criticized by many, because it uses an ultra-defensive strategy. However, thanks to this kind of game the team has found a regularity that has led it to success in the league, being the only team capable of challenging the title to FC Barcelona.

In January, Atletico was eliminated from the Copa del Rey at the hands of Sevilla, but the defeat had a positive effect because the squad focused on La Liga and UEFA Europa League. Atletico Madrid has started an amazing ascent in the league championship, managing to close the gap with the leader in just 7 points. The team is hopeful to lift the title at the end of the season. In the tournament, the squad has just advanced to the second round after eliminating FC Copenhagen. This successful present of the club is due to the philosophy of the coach Diego Pablo Simeone.

Few goals, many scorers

The game system of Simeone focuses on defensive security and management being ahead of the game, so Atletico Madrid usually wins most games by the minimum difference. However, these few goals do not depend on one player. In 24 league games, the team has scored just 36 goals, a low figure compared with 62 goals of Barcelona, 58 goals of Real Madrid, third classified, and 47 goals from Valencia, which is in fourth position. 

However, these 36 goals are distributed in 11 players, so even if it is true that the team is not a goal scorer it is a team that can reach the goal of their rivals. The Frenchmen Antoine Griezmann and Kevin Gameiro, the Argentinean Ángel Correa, the Belgian Carrasco, the Ghanaian Partey, the Spaniards Koke, Saúl Ñíguez, and Fernando Torres, the Uruguayan Giménez, the Brazilians Filipe Luís and Diego Costa are all the players who have contributed the totality of the goals, keys to the equipment to continue rising and scaling in the league of Spain.

Invulnerable goalkeeping

The game system of the team works in two ways. On the one hand, the strategy prevents them from scoring many goals; however, on the other hand, it is impossible to receive many annotations against, this is the great benefit of Diego Simeone's style of play. The order, safety, and efficacy defensive of Atletico Madrid are factors that have catapulted the team to the position in which it is located. Uruguayan Diego Godin and José María Giménez, the Spanish Juanfran, French Lucas Hernández, Brazilian Filipe Luis, the Montenegrin Stefan Savic, and Croatian Vrsaljko up the defense team, being perhaps the most successful of the current Spanish league.

However, who gets all the looks and praises is the team’s goalkeeper, the Slovenian Jan Oblak. The goalkeeper is characterized by his outstanding performances, safety in the bow, and commitment to leave the goal to 0 in every game.

The Slovenian has granted only nine goals in 24 Spanish league games. Oblak has received only four goals as local and five goals as visitant. Currently, the goalkeeper holds an unbeaten record of 378 minutes. The Slovenian goalkeeper seems to be aimed at attaining its third consecutive Zamora Trophy, which is awarded to the goalkeeping of First Division of Spain.

Atletico de Madrid does not lose hope of reaching La Liga leadership. In order to achieve that, it must continue to improve with the ferocity as it has done so far. There are still 14 league matches, which include the one that will play against Sevilla, the other against the leader FC Barcelona, and the one that will play against Real Madrid. All these meetings will be in visitor condition. The club must find a way to distribute forces in both La Liga and UEFA Europa League, without collapsing in either competition The red-and-white faith does not weaken, because it hopes to continue climbing with the goal of reaching the top: getting titles.

Latin American Post | Javier Aldana
Translated from “La escalada del Atlético de Madrid”