Diego Simeone Must Finally Beat Barcelona for Atletico's Trophy Surge to Go on

Diego Simeone took over as Atletico Madrid boss in the winter break of 2011-12 season, with the capital-city club ambling around pointlessly in midtable at the time. They were unspectacular, non-noteworthy, easily ignored, having finished seventh the previous campaign and sitting 10th that term.

In came Simeone—and it has all been one-way traffic since then, as he drives his team relentlessly toward silverware, trophies and adulation. The UEFA Europa League improbably came at the end of that first half-season, followed since by the Super Cup, the Copa del Rey, last season's La Liga and this year's Spanish Super Copa. The Champions League was within minutes of being won, too.

Amongst all that success, though, Simeone has oddly struggled against one foe; he has not managed to beat Barcelona in domestic competition yet, and he must do so on Wednesday to ensure the trophy parade can continue a while yet for Atleti.

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Picture: Luis Enrique and Atletico coach Simeone before the game #fcblive [via @noticiasfcb1899] pic.twitter.com/o7BgJ3WfAL

— barcastuff (@barcastuff) January 22, 2015"

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Of course, it's easy to say he hasn't beaten Barcelona when, on the biggest occasion of all, Atleti didn't even need to: A 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou on the final day of last season meant the league title went home with Atletico, instead of Barça themselves winning it.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

Still, it wasn't a victory. Simeone's Atleti lost the single game against the Catalan side in 11-12, then lost both in La Liga in 12-13. Last season, both games were drawn—and just a few short weeks ago, Barcelona blew Atletico apart in perhaps their finest performance of the season, winning 3-1 at Camp Nou. The return meeting takes place on the penultimate weekend of the campaign.

This game, the Copa del Rey quarter-final second leg, follows another Barcelona win, 1-0, just a week ago.

Rivals

The Copa del Rey is, quite possibly, Atleti's best chance of a trophy this season; they are by no means out of a title fight, but it took a monstrous effort on their part to win the league last year and both Real Madrid and Barcelona spent extremely heavily.

Atleti weren't exactly frugal themselves, but they also saw a lot of last year's key players depart, which wasn't the case elsewhere. Similarly, the Champions League is incredibly tough to reach the final of two years in a row, so domestic success can ensure the continued flow of silverware for Simeone.

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Atletico Madrid star Koke dismisses talk of move to Barcelona or Manchester United. http://t.co/9FmyV2WPD5 pic.twitter.com/11CyIaVu7Q

— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) January 27, 2015"

He and his team have already displayed a great ability to beat derby rivals Real Madrid on a regular basis, while they have also impressively dispatched with the likes of Sevilla, Malaga and Athletic Bilbao this term.

Alex Caparros/Getty Images

The latter two sides remain in the Copa del Rey and play against each other. Espanyol and Villarreal remain in control of their respective ties. If Atletico can summon the resolute defensive performance they showed against Barcelona in the Champions League last year, as well as getting themselves a goal of course, they have a very good chance of going all the way.

Of course, Barcelona will be thinking along exactly the same lines.

Simeone

It should be remembered that Simeone has beaten Barcelona in Europe though, in the quarter-final second leg of last season's Champions League, by a 1-0 scoreline. His failure to beat them has come domestically.

So, he and his team know what is required...but that quarter-final win was an exercise in concentration, determination and meticulous planning, with every single player knowing exactly what was required of them at all times. That type of performance wasn't evident in the league defeat a couple of weeks back, as Barcelona played through gaps easily and Atleti's mental state was rather to fight than perform.

Much better control is needed from Simeone, which he then exudes to his players. He can absolutely get the best out of them, but this is a huge test for his tactical acumen as well as his motivational ability. They barely looked like scoring in the first leg, but they absolutely must this time around—whilst stopping Lionel Messi and Neymar, who are in the best form of their season for Barcelona.

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