Fernando Torres Saves Sloppy Atletico Madrid's Blushes Against Levante

Passion, courage, heart and hard work. These were all qualities mentioned when Atletico Madrid renewed Diego Simeone's contract and most would agree that the coach had imbued them into his Rojiblancos side. 

However, "tired" seems to be the best word to describe an Atletico team that seem to be limping towards the finish line this season.

Fernando Torres came on as a substitute and scored a header from a corner to earn Atletico a point here, in a 2-2 draw.

It was an important point, too, because the way the league is stacked means there is a chance that Atletico may miss out on a Champions League place.

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The league table after their draw with Levante sees Atletico in third place on 77 points.

Behind them, they have Valencia on 73 and Sevilla on 69, although the Andalusian side have played a game less.

Atletico's last two games aren't exactly easy, with champions-in-waiting Barcelona visiting the Vicente Calderon next weekend. The other is a trip to Granada on the final day, a team that is still fighting desperately for survival.

If Atletico managed to lose those two games, it would open the door for both Valencia and Sevilla to finish above them.

Both of the chasing sides have games they should be able to win, which means every point counts for Atletico.

The chances are that now Simeone's team will finish third or fourth, but a defeat against Levante would have given Sevilla plenty of encouragement.

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Torres's goal was well-taken and is further proof that it was a decent idea to bring him back home.

It hasn't been entirely rosy for Torres since he returned and nobody believes he'll ever get back to his brilliant best, or even close to it.

But he has contributed some important goals in his time here since finding himself back in Spain in January.

Two goals against Real Madrid and one against Barcelona caught the eye, before a goal drought set in.

He scored the winner against Villarreal recently, though, and the goal against Levante earned his team a point too.

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Six goals in 25 games is not a brilliant return, but it did earn his team progress past their archrivals in the Copa del Rey and seven points in La Liga.

Simeone is happy with the forward and nobody was expecting too much more than he has offered.

The same cannot be said for Atletico as a whole, who will look back on this season as a little underwhelming.

As has been discussed on these pages before, it was always going to be hard for Simeone to repeat the heroics of last season, when they won the league and reached the Champions League final.

But this time around they put in less fight than you expect from an Atletico side; and that's a lot of fight.

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They surrendered to Real Madrid in the Champions League, finally losing to Los Blancos in the eighth and most important clash between these teams this season.

It was a weak goodbye, with Atletico creating few chances in the Santiago Bernabeu.

Elsewhere, they were outclassed by Barcelona in the Copa del Rey and their La Liga defence never really got going.

They have to buy well in the summer and give themselves a Plan B for next season.