Atletico, the third wobbly but stubborn wheel in the Spanish title race behind Barcelona and Real Madrid | Football News

There was no “anger, rage or injustice,” as he reflected on the Champions League exit at the hands of those depressingly familiar rivals down the road, Real Madrid. Rather, he was both numbed and shocked as his side blew a two-goal lead in uncharacteric Atletico implosion, before shipping in two stoppage time goals to lose 2-4. Only the first strike mattered, the long-ranger from Lamine Yamal nestling in the nets, rerouted a wicked deflection in the 93rd minute. Atletico was resigned to their cruel, crushing fate of the cursed week they lost to two of their bitterest rivals.
Of more significance was how the game altered the title-race dynamics. Barcelona would breathe easy, as they are sitting atop the league table, level on points with Real Madrid, but with a game in hand and an El Clasico at home yet to be duelled. Atletico are four points behind both but with 10 more game-weeks left, Atletico would not recede from title push either. “We will work game game, and see where it could take us from here,” Simeone said.
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It could yet be the tightest title race in Spain since the 2020-21 season, an edition Simeone could fondly recollect as his side rode the title home a two-point whisker. But Simeone is a practical man, immune to the soothing arms of the past. Had he been a romantic, he would not have transformed a horically mercurial side to one of the toughest in the league and world; he would not have challenged two of the mightiest powerhouses of the world, snatched a pair of league titles from them, the first of them achieved in the peak Criano Ronaldo-Lionel Messi rivalry days. Simeone never had access to such wealth of talent or riches to land superstars.

Mbappé tackle #UCL pic.twitter.com/wRYDwQTM5y
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) March 14, 2025
He did not complain. He was merely happy to have a job, after enduring relegation with River Plate in Argentina. “I had strategy and players ready to lose their lives for the club,” he said after landing his first league title as manager in 2014. then, he had formed a well-defined strategy based on defensive dourness and blitzing counterattacking. It would be his identity—or Cholismo, which is tweaked from his moniker El Cholo—through different Atletico iterations. He lost players to bigger clubs and to the ravages of time, but the spirit Cholismo shone through his sides.
Barcelona won because they shook that spirit. Atletico were in control for three quarters of the game, but when Robert Lewandowski pulled a goal back, a sweet volley, they suddenly froze, reminiscent of the 2014 Champions League final in Berlin. Sergio Ramos’s 93rd-minute equaliser shook them so devastatingly that they ended up losing the game 4-1. Six minutes later, Ferran Torres nodded in the equaliser that injected a sense of doom in the Metropolitano Stadium.

When Atletico slumped and slipped, Barcelona rose and rallied. Here is a side that has mastered the art of comeback, and they just lashed onto the Atletico goalmouth like an unstoppable tidal wave. Somehow, it had to be Yamal, the teenager with precocious gifts and a sense of occasion. His shot was powerful though speculative, but the stars above the modern spectacle of a sporting arena winked, and a wicked deflection parried it towards the far corner of the goal. Torres returned to kill the contest with his second goal, just seconds later. It was the first time in 662 league games that Atletico had blown a 2-0 goal advantage.
It could perhaps be the moment Barcelona won and Atletico lost the league. Barcelona’s title ambitions were reinvigorated, just as Atletico could feel that the cold hands of fate were again strangling them. But Barcelona would know that Real Madrid would stretch them till the final second, or at least till the Clasico in May, the 35th week of the season.Story continues below this ad
Atletico Madrid players during the penalty shootout against Real Madrid in the Champions League round of 16 second leg match. (AP/Manu Fernandez)
Among the three, Atletico has the easiest pile of fixtures. They don’t have Champions League encounters to worry about rest and squad rotation; only two of their opponents in the next 10 games are in the top 10, none are in the top five and three of them are among the bottom four. Should Barcelona or Real Madrid falter, Simeone’s men would promptly pounce. Barcelona has the toughest calendar, pitted to face three teams in the top five, and three others ranked between 5 and 10 in the latest standings. Apart from Barcelona, Athletic Club, Celta Vigo and Mallorca, Real Madrid don’t face any team in the top half.
It’s an equation similar to the 2020-21 season, when merely two points separated the top three in the final months. Atletico again passed through moments of agony before raising the title. The captain Koke would then reflect, sobbing in joy: “We wouldn’t be Atleti if we didn’t suffer.” Perhaps, after the week of suffering, his team would re-emerge and find silver lines of hope. But a thrilling title race is unfolding in Spain, with more tws and turns awaiting.