Atletico Madrid Emerge Unruffled from Their Tough Week

As Barcelona continue to amaze, it’s worth underlining that it is in fact Atletico Madrid who lead La Liga at the moment. OK, so Barca have a game in hand at Sporting Gijon in mid-February, in which one would expect them to bridge and surpass the current two-point gap at the top (possible dropped points elsewhere from either club notwithstanding).

What is abundantly clear, however, is that the best club team on the planet have a true domestic title rival. Real Madrid, showing signs of refreshment under newly promoted first-team manager Zinedine Zidane, are not to be ruled out, of course—they sit four points behind the title pace. But the principle threat to Luis Enrique’s side increasingly appears to be from the Rojiblanco side of the capital.

Atleti’s legitimacy as contenders is not necessarily a huge surprise—in fact, Bleacher Report’s own Karl Matchett went as far as predicting Diego Simeone’s side could win the title before a ball was even kicked this season—but drawing their current position to attention is worthwhile, especially after the week the Rojiblancos have had.

Last Thursday, FIFA announced that Atleti and Real Madrid would both be banned from registering new players for the next two transfer windows after the current one, as reported by BBC Sport, as punishment for breaching Article 19 of the governing body’s transfer regulations, which covers the transfer of minors. The infractions, and the sanctions, were virtually identical to those Barcelona were found guilty of back in April 2014.

Daniel Ochoa de Olza/Associated Press/Associated Press

As was widely reported—and chronicled here by ESPN FC—Atleti were fined €823,000—almost three times the amount that their city rivals were. It is safe to assume that the scale of the contravention explains the difference.

A study by AS (article in Spanish) last year stated that Atleti had more non-Spanish youngsters in their academy system than any other La Liga club; as of January 2015, there were 43 of 26 different nationalities, with 21 of those scholars being minors.

Ever since the Barcelona case, there has been a feeling in Spanish football that further fall guys were on the horizon, with the Real Federacion Espanola de Futbol (RFEF) held culpable by FIFA in all three cases for allowing the infractions to develop on their patch. If the mooted appeals from Atleti and El Real might seem like a play for time, as was widely assumed to be the case with Barca, they are also an expression that the clubs feel that they may have received bad advice from their domestic governing body.

Whatever Atleti president Enrique Cerezo plans as a riposte, the most immediate and visible public response was always going to be on the pitch, and as far as that went, Simeone and his team responded positively in Sunday afternoon’s visit to Las Palmas with a 3-0 win. If on-pitch matters are ostensibly distinct from administrative points of order, Atleti’s win allowed them some breathing space and also suggested what the future might hold.

If the registration ban (a subtle but important distinction from the "transfer ban" headlines, as Barca have proved) holds, then we would assume that what’s on display right now will more or less be what Atleti are until 2017/18. That’s not quite right, though.

Presuming Atleti aren’t in a position to let anyone go anywhere, this young team is perfectly set to grow together. While some key experienced cornerstones of the team remain, including Gabi, Filipe Luis and the immaculate Diego Godin, the main protagonists who turned the trip to Gran Canaria from testing booby trap into routine were all under 25—and Atleti’s new generation of leaders.

Lalo R. Villar/Associated Press

Antoine Griezmann (now 24 years old) was perhaps the most obvious, scoring the two second-half goals that put the game to to bed. Koke, also 24, laid both of the Frenchman’s goals on for him and continues to be the side’s creative leader.

Further back, goalkeeper Jan Oblak (just 23) made saves from Tana and Dani Castellano at crucial moments in the game, before Griezmann set about settling it. The Slovenian, after a slow start at the club, is already making a play for legendary status at the Calderon, as pointed out by the below tweet from ESPN FC’s Dermot Corrigan:

Oblak has now gone 363 minutes without conceding a goal. The last player to beat him was perhaps the world’s best centre-back, Godin, whose own goal condemned Simeone’s men to an unexpected defeat at Malaga just before Christmas. That defence is comfortably La Liga’s best, though, with only eight conceded so far this season.

It is a bedrock that has allowed Atleti to iron out a few teething problems with last summer’s big signings. For though Los Rojiblancos might be top of the tree, they’re still growing. The flagship arrival, centre-forward Jackson Martinez, was even linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur this week, as reported by Marca. All of Atleti’s signings from the summer had slow starts to their Calderon careers.

That’s starting to change. Belgian winger Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco is starting to become a key piece, and he provides a quicksilver wide option that Simeone didn’t have before. In recent weeks, there have been clear signs of a growing complementarity between Griezmann and Luciano Vietto, which was evident in the wins at Celta and Las Palmas. 

The cynical among us might suggest that the top brass at the Estadio Vicente Calderon have know the FIFA ruling has been in the post for some time, with that busy transfer window of summer 2015 and the recent moves to firm up the futures of some of the team’s biggest young stars.

Griezmann was already given a new contract with a release clause of €80 million, as per Marca (in Spanish), which may yet be amplified further. Jose Maria Gimenez, who at 20 looks on course to succeed Godin as the world’s premier centre-half, is said to have agreed his own new deal, also reported by Marca (in Spanish).

The registration ban is a blow, but Atletico Madrid already have their plan for the future in place. With Simeone himself contracted until 2020, their task in further fulfilling their considerable potential has almost been simplified by the events of the past week.