Antoine Griezmann's Return to Form in Derby Gives Atletico Madrid Title Lifeline

SANTIAGO BERNABEU, Madrid — Antoine Griezmann drove forward, toward the Real Madrid penalty area, feeding the ball left to Filipe Luis, holding up his own run for the Brazilian to cut it back before dispatching it low, first time, past Keylor Navas.

The Santiago Bernabeu stood still, stunned and silent for a moment, registering what had happened while Atletico players celebrated in a group.

Then rumblings of discontent from Real Madrid’s fans started, eventually building up to widespread chants of “Florentino, resign.” Neither Real Madrid nor their president, Florentino Perez, are having a great time of it at the moment.

With this 1-0 derby victory, Diego Simeone and Atletico became the first side to beat Madrid three times in a row away from home in the league.

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The Argentinian and his team have become more than a fly in the ointment for Real Madrid—more a swarm of flies that has managed to pick up the ointment and is taking it away. Derbies used to be a walk for Madrid. Now they are days to dread.

Atletico, second in the table, are four points ahead of Real and five behind Barcelona, although the Catalans face Sevilla on Sunday night, which could mean the gap is extended to eight.

Anything other than Barcelona retaining the title seems improbable, but then it was also improbable Atletico won it in the 2013-14 season.

Griezmann’s well-taken goal leaves Simeone and his men in the equation, and that’s more than enough for the beaming coach, who said afterward: “Football is wonderful. We’re very happy to be Atletico.”

And he was also happy that the Frenchman returned to form.

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Not only had he not scored in recent weeks before Saturday, but his overall performance level seemed to have dropped.

Griezmann is Atleti’s key player in an attacking sense; he is the only forward they have who can be relied upon to score.

Angel Correa, Luciano Vietto and Fernando Torres all have some plus points, but not one of them seems to be able to hit the back of the net with any degree of consistency.

This was Griezmann’s first goal in six league games, with Atletico failing to score in four of their last eight outings in all competitions before the derby.

It also starts to put to bed a complaint about Griezmann—that he can't score against big sides. Although he netted in the historic 4-0 win over Real Madrid last year, goals against La Liga's leading teams were nonexistent.

Where Atletico find their advantage is at the back. The Diego Godin, Jan Oblak and Jose Gimenez GOG axis—a trident to rival Barcelona’s MSN or Madrid’s BBC, albeit with a different area of expertise—help form the strongest defence in the division.

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Keeping goals out is no problem for Atletico, who have only shipped 11 in La Liga this season. If you ignore the four they conceded against Barcelona, that’s just seven goals in 24 games, an obscenely low number.

Real Madrid, the division’s top scorers, with 71 goals, were suffocated on their own turf, only creating a couple of clear-cut chances, both missed by Cristiano Ronaldo.

But Griezmann took his opportunity, ending his unwanted goalless streak.

Atletico's season may yet suffer for his inability to convert in the previous two games, 0-0 draws with Villarreal in La Liga and PSV in the Champions League, but Griezmann can't be blamed given how many important goals he has scored in other games.

Simeone recognised the Frenchman can cope with the pressure of being the team's star man.

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"The great thing about Antoine is he's happy to deal with the weight of expectation people put on his shoulders," said Simeone after the game, radiating pride in his press conference. "Fortunately he was able to get back among the goals today."

Eyes now turn to Barcelona’s clash with Sevilla, but as far as Simeone is concerned, he must continue working on his own side, picking up as many points as possible and seeing if any unexpected windfalls land in his lap from Barcelona’s apple tree.

“Barcelona are excellent, and it’s unlikely they’ll lose three matches,” he noted. He didn’t say it, but the glint in his eyes suggested that if they do, his Griezmann-powered Atletico will be lurking nearby and ready to capitalise.

Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise stated.