Atletico Madrid Show Mettle Against Granada to Prove Title Credentials
The buzz in your ear in the middle of the night as you are trying to drift off to sleep. That is what Atletico Madrid are to Real Madrid and Barcelona: a mosquito.
And if either of La Liga's giants let their guard down for a second, they will be bitten.
In 2013-14 we saw this, the coincidence of both Madrid and Barcelona having disappointing campaigns and Atletico at the peak of their powers, harnessed by Diego Simeone.
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They won La Liga and nearly the Champions League too, but Real Madrid swatted them at the last moment, Sergio Ramos's injury-time equaliser in that season's final putting Madrid on the path to their famous Decima.
And even though Atletico looked on from a distance as first Madrid and then Barcelona flexed their muscles, they have floated quietly behind them, looking for chances to take advantage of any mistakes.
Madrid went 1-0 up against Atletico at the Vicente Calderon, but there, in the dying embers of the game, was Luciano Vietto to equalise.
And when Sevilla and Barcelona beat Real Madrid, Atletico were suddenly above their city rivals, grinding out 1-0 and 2-0 wins.
That was the case on Saturday night in Andalusia, where they travelled to Granada and dispatched them with little fuss.
Barcelona lead La Liga but are ahead of Atletico by only two points, 34 to 32, with Madrid two behind the Rojiblancos on 30. It's tight at the top.
In fact, if they win the rest of their games this year, they will top the league table before 2016 thanks to Barcelona's participation in the Club World Cup in late December.
With league clashes against Athletic Club, Malaga and Rayo, the latter two away, that is a completely achievable objective. One which Simeone wouldn't scorn, either, given his preference for only thinking about the short term.
Goals from Diego Godin and Antoine Griezmann, pillars of strength for the Rojiblancos in recent times, helped them see off their opponents. It was a classic Atletico victory.
Strength in defence, enough in attack to overcome the other team and not much more than sweat, blood and a few tears for fallen team-mate Tiago.
The most impressive feat is that they are achieving all this without a proper centre-forward. Simeone is playing Fernando Torres at the moment, who has been looking for his 100th Atletico goals for weeks now.
Torres has gone 13 games without a goal, something that should be surprising but, unfortunately for him, just isn't anymore. He missed two golden chances against Granada.
Jackson Martinez is injured, but he wasn't in good form, either, before he got injured while on international duty in November.
The likes of Vietto and Angel Correa have been used sparingly, almost a kind of Pavlovian conditioning by Simeone, who wants to unleash them into games full of energy and with the desire to prove themselves.
In the second half of the season, it would be no surprise whatsoever if at least one of those players goes on a hot streak of form and single-handedly wins some games for Atletico.
Although they have tough away fixtures in the second half of the season, having to travel to the Santiago Bernabeu and the Camp Nou, among others, to lead the league come the new year would be a huge warning to La Liga's giants.
Atletico can sense blood.
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