Atletico Restore La Liga Credentials as Real Madrid Left to Lick Open Wounds

Atletico Madrid’s comprehensive 4-0 battering of city rivals Real should not come as too much of a surprise to anyone.

This was the proverbial accident waiting to happen. I talked in my last column about Atletico being favourites, but it ended up being a much bigger accident than I certainly expected.

The bare statistics make for sorry reading for an outfought, outthought Real side who couldn’t even manage a single shot on target throughout the 90 minutes. We have to go back as far as a 2008 game against Deportivo La Coruna to discover when that last happened.

So what went wrong for Real, or perhaps more appropriately, what went right for Atletico?

First and foremost, in terms of commitment, Atletico beat Real hands down. Quite simply, they just wanted it more. The goal scored by Antoine Griezmann was a perfect definition of what happened throughout the game.

Surrounded by five players, Arda Turan still managed to get his cross in to Saul Niguez, who wanted it more than Nacho, who knocked it toward Griezmann, who wanted it more than Raphael Varane, to score his side’s third.

Andres Kudacki/Associated Press

Atletico created a host of chances, as did Sevilla on Wednesday. So, too, did Cordoba at the tail end of January, who only lost out to Real after an 89th-minute Gareth Bale penalty.

This is clearly not the same Real Madrid side that enjoyed 22 consecutive victories.

Ronaldo is missing and has been for the past two months, and the 4-3-3 doesn’t always work because Real are more solid and balanced when they perform with four midfielders.

In fact, they played their best football last season against the big sides (Bayern Munich away, Atletico in the Champions League final) with a 4-4-2—which surely has to return.

One more midfielder produces more control, more possession and the same amount of chances than with the 4-3-3 Carlo Ancelotti insists with. In fact, statistically it shows they get two more shots on goal with one less forward.

In addition, the players are being overused. Real’s top 10 players are the most used of any other set of 10 players in any of the major leagues. Only Chelsea come close to them.

Andres Kudacki/Associated Press

Toni Kroos needs help in midfield and Sami Khedira is not the solution. Isco has been doing a lot of work without the ball, and that’s something which does not come naturally to him. Now he is paying the price.

Real were ripe for the taking, and Diego Simeone’s fired-up men, who need precious little encouragement to stick one on their illustrious rivals, duly obliged.

That said, things started badly for Atletico with an injury to Koke, but with everyone committed, that was never going to hold them back.

Griezmann, in particular, has settled into becoming just the player Simeone wants him to be, especially without the ball, primarily because he can create the situations that allow this Atletico side to counter-attack.

Andres Kudacki/Associated Press

Mario Mandzukic simply doesn’t have the pace that allows them to do that. Griezmann has.

Conversely, what you get from Mandzukic is a lot of defensive work and a killer instinct, as demonstrated by the fourth goal.

Saul was also excellent, especially with a superb overhead strike, but also ended up being injured. For me, the man of the match was Tiago—he was everywhere.

What few attacks Real threatened were quickly snuffed out by him, and he even managed to get himself on the scoresheet after just 14 minutes.

Real Madrid, meanwhile, were uncertain whether to play a counter-attacking or possession game, while Atletico defended a bit deeper than they had done against Barcelona, yet always looked to have a lot of penetration when they got possession.

Real still sit at the top of the table, but make no mistake about it, this league now has a completely new edge to it.

Real must discover the essence to their game and redefine just what they want to be and just how they want to play. If they don’t, they could be in trouble.

Andres Kudacki/Associated Press

And they need to answer some serious questions. Questions like: Why is Cristiano missing? Why is Bale not filling in the gap in terms of influence on the game? Where has Isco gone?

I have always insisted to some of my more sceptical Revista colleagues that, in my opinion, Atletico have every chance of retaining the title they won last season.

Saturday’s match showed that to be very much the case.