Simeone, Griezmann and Why Atletico Madrid Blow Hot in Europe but Cold in Spain

On Saturday night, Atletico Madrid fetched up in Andalucia to play Granada at the Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes. Once again in La Liga, there were recurrent themes for the red-and-white Madrid side. They were labouring again on the road, only managing to earn a late, late win against a side that have been rooted in the relegation zone since the start of the season. It was Atletico’s fourth win from 10 games away in the league.

The only goal in a dour encounter came thanks—yet again—to a headed goal by Antoine Griezmann. The 25-year-old has been in spellbinding form. He’s banged in 12 goals since the turn of the year. Arguably only Barcelona’s Leo Messi has been as dominant in Spanish football this season as the flying Frenchman, who shared a well-deserved Ballon d’Or podium with Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in December.

An early winter goal drought for Griezmann—in which he went nine games in La Liga without scoring from October to January—coincided with Atletico Madrid’s most pronounced dip in form this season. For the last seven months, the club have played with two faces—patchy domestically in which they slipped to sixth in the league standings at one stage and impressive in Europe, as they strive to win a coveted Champions League crown.

On the continent, Atletico were formidable in the autumn, rushing to secure qualification from the Champions League group stages with two matches to spare. This included a vintage display in strangling Bayern Munich 1-0 at the Vicente Calderon Stadium in late September. Close to midnight, Atletico’s manager Diego Simeone left the stadium beeping his car horn manically in delight.

The Bavarian side had only lost twice in 26 games, both times to Atletico at the Calderon. The Spanish team ultimately went on to top the group. The Calderon has become an intimidating place for visiting European sides since Simeone has taken charge of Atletico. They have only conceded four goals in 16 Champions League games on home turf under his stewardship.

It is the Madrid side’s uncharacteristic defensive frailties this season in the league and Spanish cup, however, which have confounded. They started the campaign in typical, niggardly fashion, coughing up goals rarely in a streak in which they registered 13 clean sheets in 14 games. This continued a trend from previous seasons.

Since October, though, Atletico haven’t looked like themselves for long stretches on Spanish soil. After several years as a nailed on top-three side in the league under Simeone—alongside behemoths Barcelona and Real Madrid—they have ceded ranking to Sevilla.

At the moment, Atletico are immersed in a dogfight with Real Sociedad—who slipped up Sunday in losing the Basque derby at home to Athletic Bilbao—and Villarreal for La Liga’s final Champions League qualifying spot.

Part of the problem is with Atletico’s defence, which traditionally has been a cornerstone of Simeone’s side. Already this season, Los Rojiblancos have conceded 22 goals in the league, with almost a quarter of matches still to play. Last season, Atletico let in a miserly 18 league goals from start to finish. The clean sheet at Granada was only its fourth in 13 games.

There has been a crisis of identity. Atletico Madrid have always been a counter-attacking team. Stifling to play against. They revel in pressing teams, in cutting down spaces, in nicking goals on the counter-attack, as they did, for example, in getting a goal in Germany against Bayern Munich in last season’s Champions League semi-final, which proved enough to progress on the away-goals rule.

This tradition used to be non-negotiable, something Simeone pressed home in an impassioned pre-match press conference (in Spanish) in November 2015: “I invite those who still don’t know what Atletico Madrid are to look again at work, pressure, playing on the counter-attack, being defensively strong. Those who want to change that are going against what Atletico have always been,” he said, stressing the point several times.

“There are lots of ways of playing well—some choose to have a lot of the ball. Others choose to play well on the counter. Historically, this is what Atletico are. Don’t confuse the fans. This is Atlético. This—effort, contagiousness, counter-attacks, competitiveness; that’s the way success has always come, and we’ll continue that way. No matter what they say.”

Counter-attacking, scraping remorselessly for the ball was in keeping, too, with his own personality as a player who never conceded an inch to an opponent. It is often said (in Spanish) he used to play with “a penknife stuck between his teeth” during a career in which he enjoyed two spells at Atletico, including a memorable league-and-cup-winning season as captain in 1995-96.

This season, though, the adherence to a counter-attacking philosophy has loosened. Atletico have looked for more possession in games, playing it out from the back. The team have played more expansively, pressing higher up the pitch, lining up for matches—or switching mid-game—to a 4-3-3 format in order to profit from all of the team's attacking talents, notably the Francophones Griezmann, Kevin Gameiro and Yannick Carrasco, as well as cameos from Fernando Torres.

The results have been mixed—exhilarating at stages early in the season, shambolic at other points. There has been a loss of control, a lack of intensity, which, perhaps, is inevitable. This Diego Simeone project at Atletico is on the cusp of its seventh season. Most of Simeone’s key lieutenants—who have been with him from the start of the adventure back in December 2011—are long in the tooth: team captain Gabi is 33, Diego Godin (who has always looked middle-aged) is 31, the same age as Filipe Luis; Juanfran, 32; Tiago will be 36 in July.

They have been on an unforgettable journey. When Simeone landed in Madrid on a flight from his native Argentina two days before Christmas Day 2011, he said he had “energy” coursing through his body. He was possessed, knowing he was fulfilling an ambition he had harboured since his time as a player at the club. That vitality has been infectious.

At the time, the club were in disarray. They hovered four points from the relegation zone. They had just been dumped out of the Copa del Rey by a third division side, Albacete. Debts were consuming the club, which was in the red for half a billion euros. Star strikers Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero had just been offloaded to Inter Milan and Manchester City, respectively, to help keep the taxman at bay. The club played without a regular shirt sponsor.

Players—including an average of 14 a season over the previous decade—and managers came and went at the club like visitors to a fairground. Simeone was one of about 50 men (the exact number is unknown) to sit in the manager’s seat since 1987. Gabi admitted that Atletico’s players were “mentally sunk” until Simeone started invading their thoughts with his never-say-die attitude.

Simeone transformed their fortunes, laying waste to the club’s long-running, fatalist mindset; pitifully, they had become known to football fans in Spain as El Pulpas (“the jinxed one”). Instead of misfortune, Simeone brought fortune with a combative, make-do-and-mend approach, using a band of journeymen to win an improbable league title in May 2014, cobbled together with a fifth of the money available to Barca and Real Madrid. He delivered several other trophies and a place in two Champions League finals.

Those efforts have come at a physical cost. The squad has been replenished—with net spends over the last two years, including an outlay of €42.5 million last summer, per Transfermarkt, to acquire players like Gameiro from rivals Sevilla—but the backbone of it remains the same. Significantly, Godin, the team’s beating heart as a ferocious central defender and scorer of clutch goals, has struggled for fitness and form this season, which has left the team’s back four unsettled.

Simeone won’t stay at the club forever. It is remarkable that he has been able to keep his foot on the gas for over five years. Rival elite coaches Luis Enrique and Pep Guardiola, for example, have only lasted three years at Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Jose Mourinho recently imploded during his third season at Chelsea, getting the sack in December 2015.

After hinting he would leave the club towards the end of last season, Atletico managed to persuade Simeone to remain at the club until they settle into their new stadium, the Wanda Metropolitano. He has pledged he will stay until the end of the 2017-2018 campaign. He has unfinished business in the Spanish capital.

Thoughts of a league title disappeared before Christmas. The club went down to Barca in the semi-final of the Copa del Rey, compounding their erratic form on the domestic front. The quest for a Champions League title, which Griezmann and other team-mates have long conceded in exchanges with the press as their best chance of glory, such as during an interview with AS (h/t ESPN FC), remains alive. For a top team that have been a long time on the road, it’s easier to get up for occasional, big European nights than the drudgery of relentless league fixtures around the backwaters of Spain.

They carry a healthy 4-2 advantage going into Tuesday’s second leg, a home-based tie against Bayer Leverkusen. Should they progress, Atletico would be a fearsome opponent to face in ensuing rounds, as they seek to avenge those two painful final defeats to Real Madrid in 2014 and 2016.

All quotes and information firsthand unless otherwise noted.