It’s all going wrong for Diego Simeone and Atletico Madrid

‘Nightmare at the Metropolitano’, ‘Day of the dead,’ ‘Fright night’ – Atletico Madrid’s failure to beat the champions of Azerbaijan came slap-bang on Halloween and so was a gift to the headline writers. 

They could have used ‘Groundhog day’ too – this was their ninth draw of the season.

‘Right now, the Europa League seems like s*** to me. But the competition has given me a lot in the past so if we have to play it then we will go all out to win it,’ Atletico captain Gabi told Spanish radio straight after the game. He was upset and in no mood to hide his emotions.

Antoine Griezmann cuts a frustrated figure after Atletico Madrid’s disastrous draw at home

The second class citizen of European tournaments is beckoning Atletico. ‘We need more than a miracle’ said the front page of Marca. 

What they really need is to beat Roma at home and Chelsea away and hope that either one of their rivals also fails to beat Qarabag. It’s a long shot, even longer than the spectacular long shot that Thomas Partey produced last night. Without his brilliant strike things could have been even worse.

So where did it all go wrong? The Court of Arbitration in Sport is probably a good place to start. When they turned down Atletico’s appeal against a transfer ban in June this year they left the club without the recourse to register any new players until January 2018.

‘I knew what I was signing up to,’ said Diego Simeone recently. He was referring to the contract extension he penned after the ban was upheld. His hands were tied. 

Jan Oblak looks on forlornly after conceding the opening goal at the Wanda Metropolitano

Jan Oblak looks on forlornly after conceding the opening goal at the Wanda Metropolitano

A substandard forward line would have to do for four months more, until summer purchases Diego Costa and Vitolo could be picked to play. The plan was to get to January still in all the major competitions but now that looks very unlikely.

The attacking options are limited. Fernando Torres’ return to the club in January 2015 brought 45,000 to the club’s old Vicente Calderon just to watch him walk out on to the centre circle and wave. 

But sentimentalism only takes you so far. He was an adequate substitute for a season and a half but he can no longer bother top Champions League defences.

Kevin Gameiro was a cheap option when he arrived in the summer of 2016. Simeone wanted Diego Costa back. Or he wanted Paris Saint-Germain’s Edinson Cavani or Gonzalo Higuain or Alvaro Morata. 

Diego Simeone signed a new contract recently but insists he knew what he was signing up to

Diego Simeone signed a new contract recently but insists he knew what he was signing up to

But the club could not find the money to bring any of those four targets and finally down at option No 5, they found Gameiro. He is not the game-changing player that any Simeone team needs.

Angel Correa is full of running and Luciano Vietto has had his moments but neither can carry the weight of the forward line on his shoulders. And then there is Antoine Griezmann.

His head was turned in the summer and no one seems capable of turning it back again. The French forward knows that Barcelona and Manchester United will do battle for him at the end of the season when his buy-out clause drops back down to €100million (£87.5m). He is playing like a man who knows he has a new chapter of his career on the horizon.

For Atletico supporters searching for sliver linings they know that, come January, Costa will be back to lead the line and Vitolo will bring energy and invention to the attack too. 

Diego Costa will be available to help solve the attacking crisis when he can register in January

Diego Costa will be available to help solve the attacking crisis when he can register in January

They can also take comfort from being in a similar position to this one last year when at the start of December they were 12 points off La Liga leaders Real Madrid and were beaten 3-0 by them. They had topped their Champions League group however, despite the fact that it included Bayern Munich.

And as it looks like they are finding out this season – you can have a bad start in the league and put things right, but if you screw-up your first four games of the Champions League, there is no way back. 

You are going straight to the Europa League, and that has got to hurt a club that has played in two of the last four Champions League finals. 

 

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