Why Arda Turan Remains an Indispensable Part of Atletico Madrid Project

It was a heated night. An unsavoury one, if we're honest. And at the zenith of the tension, there was a moment that was followed by an array of incensed questions: What if it had hit him? Shouldn't it be a red card anyway? Surely we can't turn a blind eye to that sort of behaviour, can we?

The incident in question was Arda Turan's throw of his boot toward the linesman during Atletico Madrid's feisty Copa del Rey clash with Barcelona at the Vicente Calderon. After taking a 2-1 lead, Atletico found themselves down 3-2 (4-2 on aggregate), and with just 10 men after Gabi's sending off. They would soon be reduced to nine when Mario Suarez recklessly followed suit. 

Sucker-punched by their visitors and being beaten by the Blaugrana for the third time in less than three weeks, Diego Simeone's men had completely boiled over. Tempers had become frayed. All composure had been lost. 

Turan's boot throw was indicative of Atletico's collective mental state. 

And it was ugly. 

But there was another side to the Turk's eruption. He'd crossed the line, yes. His act was completely unacceptable. Yet the moment was paradoxical, too.

Turan's boot throw was lamentable but symbolic. Unsightly but emblematic.

We shouldn't glorify it. But it's also inescapable that it encapsulated who Atletico Madrid are, or perhaps more precisely, the line Atletico Madrid tread. 

It was a night when we saw the best and worst of Los Colchoneros—everything right about them one minute; everything wrong about them the next. 

And that, like it or not, is Simeone's Atletico. The team is simply an extension of him, mirroring his ferocity and aggression, but also following his tendency to go one step too far at times, to cross a line that shouldn't be crossed as often as it is. 

It's one of the reasons why the club's fans love Atletico: Simeone's players stare in the face of Real Madrid and Barcelona's hegemony in Spain, stare in the face of their unfavourable odds and grin menacingly. 

For the men from the Vicente Calderon, no task is too daunting. No mountain too high. 

Their tenacity makes them that way, and their manager makes them that way. Acts such as Turan's boot throw are an ugly and unfortunate consequence of their identity—if Atletico weren't polarising, if they didn't tread dangerously, they wouldn't be who they are. 

They wouldn't be the Atletico we know now. 

Paradoxical, huh?

It's why Turan is an indispensable part of Atletico's squad, despite suggestions from his agent last week that this might be his last season in the Spanish capital. (His agent then quickly reversed that stance on the same day.)

The Turk, along with team-mate Raul Garcia, is the on-field embodiment of Simeone's mentality. If you want to know who Atletico are, just watch Turan for five minutes. He and his game alone will tell you everything you need to know.  

His brilliance on the ball is matched by his intensity. His technical quality is complemented by his desire. His creative vision is enhanced by his appetite for the battle. 

He's Atletico in a nutshell. 

It's why his manager adores him, why Simeone describes Turan as a "game-changer" who the "team needs" and why the Argentinian so often leads the applause before embracing the 28-year-old when he's substituted. 

Turan is Atletico's on-field Simeone, representative of both the good and the bad. 

David Ramos/Getty Images

There's a purely playing element to the midfielder's importance, too—one that goes beyond the essence of his character. 

Turan is unique in Atletico's squad. He doesn't have a replacement. His cocktail of qualities isn't found elsewhere at the Vicente Calderon.

In close quarters, his skills are unmatched at Atletico—no one can wriggle out of a tight corner the way he can. His passing vision is also unrivalled. His creativity is, too. 

Though Koke and Gabi lead Los Colchoneros in assists, thanks to their outstanding set-piece delivery, Turan surpasses them in open play. As Simeone describes him, he's the "game-changer" who Atletico look to when they need to break a game open. 

It's a role he clearly relishes, and Simeone must love that it's Turan who carries it out—that it's the player who most embodies his approach who's so often the driving force of the team. 

Turan, the whole package, the good, the bad and the ugly, is indispensable. Without him, Atletico would lose a large part of what makes them who they are. 

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