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The reigning La Liga champions Atletico Madrid are riding high on the back of a league-winning 2020-21 season. Led by Diego Simeone, the red half of Madrid accumulated a total of 86 points, bettering Real Madrid's tally by two points. The Argentine manager has successfully erected a fortress at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium, with Jan Oblak at its helm.
Once again, Atletico Madrid finished with the best defensive record in La Liga, allowing their opponents to score a mere 25 goals last season. Their impressive defensive showing was only surpassed by one side in the entirety of the top five European leagues. A resurgent Lille side, with Mike Maignan between the sticks, only conceded 23 times en route to their fifth Ligue 1 title.
Atletico Madrid's recent record in La Liga
Ever since Diego Simeone set foot in Madrid, Los Rojiblancos have experienced an upturn in their fortunes. The 51-year-old tactician inherited a mediocre Atletico Madrid side in 2011 and in a few years' time, transformed them into continental juggernauts.
In his debut season as the side's manager, Simeone guided them to a European double, winning the Europa League as well as the UEFA Super Cup. Atletico Madrid famously pipped Barcelona to the 2013-14 La Liga title, breaking an 18-year-league drought.
Since Simeone's appointment, the three-time Europa League winners have only finished out of the top three on two separate occasions. Atletico Madrid have henceforth shattered the Madrid-Barca duopoly, reshaping La Liga as a three-horse race.
Although Los Colchoneros have established themselves as European and domestic powerhouses, they have still ended up on the wrong side of results on numerous occasions.
Here, we take a look at 5 reasons which may hinder Atletico Madrid's bid to reclaim their La Liga title this season:
#5 Over-reliance on certain players
The Atletico Madrid team of the past few seasons have proven to be a closely-knit structure, consisting of some essential cogs. Most often when these gears have faltered, the structure has inched closer to the brink of collapse. The likes of Jan Oblak, Kieran Trippier, Koke and recently recruited Luis Suarez make up the bulk of Atletico's core group.
Their rough patch last term coincided with the absence of Trippier and Suarez, losing the raging form they had mustered since the beginning of the campaign. Furthermore, the 34-year-old Uruguayan veteran was solely responsible for 21 of the 67 goals scored by Atletico Madrid in their title-winning season.
Without Suarez's goals or Oblak's electrifying shot-stopping skills, the Spanish giants would've easily succumbed to their mid-season slump, forfeiting their title to either Real Madrid or Barcelona. If any crucial part of Simeone's side gets sidelined in the upcoming season, retaining their title as La Liga champions could soon turn into a Herculean task.
#4 Low goal-scoring stats in the league
As stated earlier, Atletico Madrid only managed to score 67 goals last season, level with second-placed Real and 18 less than Barcelona who finished third. Surprisingly, this was the first time since the 2016-17 season that the Madrid team managed to score more than 60 goals in a single La Liga campaign.
Even though they managed to secure their 11th league title in 2021, Atletico Madrid's past few seasons have persistently shown signs of concern. Their consistently low-scoring goal tally has been a stumbling block for Simeone ever since the Argentine took charge a decade ago.
The current La Liga champions have always finished miles behind their closest rivals in the 'goal for' section. Atletico Madrid have not out-scored either Real Madrid or Barcelona even once since their last league triumph in 2014. With their usually stout defence fumbling at the 11th hour, the team endured their worst streak of conceding goals since 2011.
If something reoccurs, Atletico's title defence may collapse radically, in the absence of a consistent attacking threat.
Also read: 5 reasons why Barcelona can win La Liga (2021-22)
#3 Unstable and aging squad
After securing the La Liga title by the skin of their teeth in 2013-14, Atletico Madrid have endured a bumpy transitional period. The team lost stalwarts Diego Costa and Filipe Luis to Chelsea right after lifting the league trophy. Meanwhile, veteran striker David Villa was shipped off to the United States after a solitary season.
Atletico Madrid welcomed a fresh batch of players to incorporate the loss of multiple first-team members. Nevertheless, this cycle has repeated itself in every season since. The La Liga side haven't had a stable squad for more than two seasons running, working their way through each year with make-shift and temporary replacements.
In the summer of 2019, the Spanish giants witnessed a complete overhaul of their squad. In response, they employed copious over-age players as their substitutes to power their way through a couple of seasons.
Their inability to plan long-term projects while steadily consolidating prospects in the team has cost Atletico Madrid dearly, with Simeone's men even slumping to fourth in the 2019-20 season. Coupled with the fact that most of the players that they rely on are 27 or above, it is clear that the defending La Liga champions have a tendency to lose track on a periodic basis.
#2 Minimal transfer business ahead of La Liga season
On July 12, 2021, Atletico Madrid agreed to an initial €35m transfer fee to sign Rodrigo De Paul from Udinese on a five-year contract. Since then, aside from a free transfer of 20-year-old Marcos Paulo from Fluminense, Los Colchoneros have nothing to show for in terms of recruitment.
It is widely known that Simeone's team lacks serious depth, yielding to a mid-season selection crisis last time. The absence of some players due to injuries and suspensions forced Simeone to experiment with the squad, employing various tactical formations.
However, this massively backfired since the players used by the Argentine either couldn't adapt to the new structure or simply lacked the adequate abilities to thrive in such an environment.
Consequently, the then La Liga favorites blew off a tremendous start to the campaign, winning only four out of 11 matches in a span of three months. With no significant signings other than De Paul to cover for this dropping, there is a high probability that Atletico Madrid might slump to similar circumstances once again this season. That could result in them forfeiting the La Liga title.
#1 Atletico Madrid's dependence on rivals' struggles
Arguably the most concerning fact for Los Rojiblancos' fans is that their team has almost solely prospered during a no-conflict period. This is to say that Atletico Madrid have won most of their domestic silverware, while their closest rivals, Real Madrid and Barcelona, have endured a severe lapse in form.
The 86 points that won Atletico Madrid their second title in 25 years is the lowest tally accumulated by a La Liga-winning side since 2008 when Bernd Schuster's Real Madrid topped the league with 85 points.
Even so, the league did not get a winner until the very last day. A throwback to their 2013-14 La Liga triumph would reveal a similar state of affairs. Atletico had to secure a hard-fought draw against Barcelona on the final matchday to be crowned Spanish champions.
Diego Simeone has worked wonders with the Atletico Madrid team, taking them from lowly mid-table finishes to fighting toe-to-toe with two of the biggest teams in all of Europe.
However, it cannot be denied that both of their La Liga wins came under much favorable circumstances. In hindsight, if either Real Madrid or Barcelona were to discover their destructive form in the coming season, things could get ugly very soon for El Pupas.
Also read: Top 5 attackers in La Liga (August 2021)
