Then it was three and the Vicente Calderon all heaved a heavy sigh of relief. Atletico Madrid returned to the Champions League stage after a four-year absence and they did so with a win. This season will be only the fourth time since the newly formatted European Cup was created that the Manzanares club will rub shoulders with Europe’s elite. Last night with goals from Joao Miranda, Arda Turan and Leo Baptistao, the club made the perfect start, even though at times they looked rattled. Diego Simeone knows that it is only three points but it’s the perfect start and the man in charge has proven that he is quite the expert in managing European ties.
In 2010 after being knocked out of the Champions League, Los Rojiblancos went on to win the newly named Europa League. While fans celebrated the first piece of silverware in 14 years, those in charge of the coffers were slightly worried. Atleti’s budget had been done taking Champions League income as a certainty. The following season the club decided to go all out and didn’t adjust the budget and so when Gregorio Manzano came in, he was working on a shoestring as the club cut costs across the board. Manzano’s reign was short-lived, Cholo Simeone answered the club’s distress call and the rest is history.
Atletico set a host of new European records when they won the Europa League in 2012. Simeone mastered the two-game ties and few sides could answer the tactics he deployed. Critics will point out that last season the club went out in the early rounds in the defence of their title but the objective was always to reach the Champions League.
Finishing third in the League, they have moved straight into the group stage and because of their Europa League success found themselves in Pot 2 of the draw. A few years ago, after the win in Hamburg against Fulham, the club had a T-shirt that said ‘Europe is our playground’. A statement that isn’t exactly true.
Since 1974, Los Colchoneros have failed to go past the quarterfinals in the Champions League. They may have won two Europa Leagues and European Super Cups since then but the Champions League has always been their Achilles heel. In the modern era of the tournament, they went out in the last eight against Ajax in 1997 and in 2009 they went out in the first knockout round to Porto. The following year they failed to make it past the group stages. With Simeone at the helm, fans are hoping that they will now buck the trend and make headlines like Villarreal, Malaga and other underdogs.
When the group was drawn, Simeone was quick to say that Zenit and Porto were the favourites to go through. Last night, Atleti won but in the second half they struggled a little. Cholo continued post-match to stress that his side aren’t favourites, but some believe that this is just another Simeone mind game. Still early days, but even the former midfielder must like Atleti’s chances of going through.
