La Liga Hangover: Right Now, Atletico Madrid Might Be the Best Team in Europe

If you had to give it a name, perhaps Eruption Day was it. Across four games and three cities, eight teams contested 360 minutes of breathless, explosive football that saw the net bulge with Vine-like frequency. 

It started with five goals in Madrid, and they were followed by four in Barcelona, eight more in the Spanish capital and then seven in Seville. On average, one arrived every 15 minutes—each one seemingly coming in a greater hurry than the last—and when it was all done, Atletico Madrid had been responsible for more of them than anyone. Europe, look out. 

If you'd been told Saturday's winners in La Liga would score seven, six, four and three, you would never have guessed Atletico would be the team to smash home the first of those tallies. It's just not what Atletico do.

Diego Simeone's men are not well-versed in thrashings. If former Levante coach Joaquin Caparros once likened going to the Camp Nou as going to the "dentist," then going to the Vicente Calderon has been like a date with a slow, crunching meat-grinder.

Teams leave the banks of the Manzanares knackered and disfigured. The scoreboard often says they've gone close, but they haven't really; they've just been held at arm's length for long enough before being killed off in the most attritional manner. Until now, that is. 

On Saturday evening, the Calderon saw the sort of show normally reserved for the Santiago Bernabeu or the Camp Nou as Atleti bulldozed Granada to the tune of 7-1. The home side hadn't landed that many blows in a single game for almost three years, but this was a continuation of a recent trend. 

After a slow start to the season, Atleti put four past Celta Vigo at Balaidos last month and then five past Sporting Gijon after that. Saturday's humiliation of Granada means Los Colchoneros have scored four or more in three of their eight league games thus far. Last season, they managed that once in 38, and with 21 goals in the league, they're now going at the same pace they were in 2013-14, the title year. 

If there had been a yearning for a more dynamic Atleti—a more lethal one—that's now being satisfied. Simeone's men look slick, deep. Different. Better. Right now, they might just be the best team in Europe, too.  

Barcelona and Real Madrid will have something to say about that, of course. On the same day, the Catalans dispatched Deportivo La Coruna and Zinedine Zidane's men butchered Real Betis. 

At the Camp Nou, Barcelona with a 4-0 win brushed away a background picture of a supposed hunt for a mole that had been presented as the biggest investigation since Inspector Gadget went after Dr. Claw.

Later at the Benito Villamarin, Real, winning 6-1, ceased the crisis talk—talk that should have come with the same premature advice that so often adorns the paper on which that very talk is printed. 

Each club might have their concerns, but they'll be quick to point out they're the Spanish and European champions, respectively. "What about Atletico?" they might ask. Privately, though, they'll know exactly what it is about Atletico. 

When a team can defend like Simeone's, it's ominous when they start coupling that with similar excellence at the other end. After going behind early on Saturday, Atleti opened up and hit Granada with a fluency and incision that's been steadily building in recent weeks. 

It started in midfield. Having ditched the ultra-conservative central quartet, Simeone has unshackled his side. Gabi is now the sole defensive option, with Koke thrust into the middle to conduct. Flanking them on Saturday were Yannick Carrasco and Angel Correa, wreaking havoc with Antoine Griezmann and Kevin Gameiro. 

Isn't Carrasco something? Against Granada, his moves were smoother than those of his on the sideline at the San Siro, where he confirmed to all that boy's got game. Goals one and two might have been opportunistic, but his third was emphatic, and he wasn't done there. His driving runs set up Nicolas Gaitan for Atleti's fifth and then Tiago for their seventh. AS called him a "hurricane."

"I am very happy for [Carrasco]," said Simeone afterwards, per ESPN FC. "It is a daily struggle, to get him to what you saw in this game. He is a very complete player, with great potential, he wants to improve and he listens, he scores goals, beats people with the ball."

From Simeone, the emphasis on the daily work said so much about both him and the team. When a player buys into the Cholo way, when he meets the challenge and the immense demands, their progression is rapid. Carrasco is a perfect example, but he's not the only one. Look at Griezmann. Look at Stefan Savic. At Correa. At Saul Niguez. At Jose Gimenez. The common denominator? Cholo.

Atleti's boss is evolving, too. He's loosening the reins a little, using the full extent of the talent he now has. Being able to score like this changes things.

The issue for Atleti across the last two seasons was that limited firepower made the margins too fine. You'd never worry about Simeone's men against the other heavyweights, but their task against the smaller sides was always more difficult than those of their rivals. 

Their title-winning season was different, though. When Atleti's historic feat of 2013-14 is discussed, too often glossed over amid the defensive focus is the greater punch in attack they had that year. It was more industrial in style than it is now, but Diego Costa led a team that put seven past Getafe, five past Rayo Vallecano and Betis, and four past a collection of others.

Now, they've got that capacity back but with greater diversity in how it's achieved. Remarkably, they've still managed to keep up their reputation as horrible, suffocating bastards, too.  

Theoretically, adopting a more aggressive essence should open you up at the back a little, but no. After eight games in the league, Atleti have conceded on just three occasions, giving them the best goal difference in the division. The Alan Harper-level stinginess is the same in Europe, where the men from the Calderon are yet to concede at all, even after meeting Bayern Munich.

It's their best start to a season defensively in Simeone's reign. So five years into the Argentinian's tenure, and they're still getting better at shutting teams out. Only Barcelona have found any semblance of a weakness, while Alaves' Manu Garcia and Granada's Isaac Cuenca have needed wonder strikes to beat Jan Oblak. 

Speaking of Cuenca, you had to feel for him on Saturday. His goal to open the scoring before the subsequent brutality was a screamer, lifting it up for himself with a first touch before thumping into the top corner with the outside of his right boot. It's likely to be the best goal he ever scores, but doing it when your team is pummelled 7-1 is like winning a five-leg accumulator on the day your parents lose the house.

He never got a sniff after that. Nor did Alberto Bueno, Andreas Pereira or Ezequiel Ponce. The service to them was limited by the hosts' intense pressing, and when it did make it to them, they were gobbled up by Diego Godin, Savic, Juanfran and Filipe Luis. That's the best defence on the planet, right there. Arguing it might be as pointless as plot lines in pornography. 

Where there is debate to be had, though, is with regard to the best overall team in the world. Barcelona and Bayern have dominated that discussion in recent years. Real Madrid have had their moments. But, right now, Atletico—excelling at both ends, adding power to the ruggedness, capable of taking you down with football or a fight—might just have the strongest case of them all. 

Not Forgotten Amid the Hangover

• It might not have been the highest-scoring affair of the weekend, but the Basque derby was definitely the best contest: ferocious, physical, fast and see-sawing. The 3-2 scoreline to Athletic Club Bilbao was a fair reflection, and don't sleep on Athletic this year. 

• Sevilla. Won. A. Game. Away. From. Home. 

• Time to take Villarreal seriously? Like, really seriously? They're unbeaten, have the second-best defensive record in the league, are level on points with Barcelona, have genuine depth and are now fresh from dismantling Celta Vigo 5-0. What's more, the new boys in Roberto Soriano, Nicola Sansone and Alexandre Pato are scoring, Cedric Bakambu is back and Roberto Soldado is still on his way. 

• Any other weekend, Cuenca's strike would have been the best of the bunch by a distance, but this wasn't any other weekend. Pablo Sarabia's curling winner from distance for Sevilla against Leganes was sublime. Iker Muniain's goal was almost a carbon copy. Real Madrid's inter-galactic assault of a counter-attack was just as impressive. The footwork for Luis Suarez's strike against Depor was gorgeous. Deyverson's backward-facing header for Alaves was great. And what about Roberto Rosales for Malaga? Yum. 

• Two points separate the top five and only three separate the top six. This is quite a league, eh?

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