The Simeone Rollercoaster
As Atletico Madrid reach a crucial part of their season the questions surrounding Diego Simeone and his ability to take the club to the next step are coming up more and more frequently.
In the history of Atletico Madrid only one person can come even close to competing to the legendary status of Diego Simeone, Luis Aragones who made over 200 appearances for Atleti and had numerous spells at the club as a coach. Despite that legendary status the Argentine coach has he’s in a strange position where every bad result is met with question marks over whether he can evolve as a coach and take Atleti and their squad to the next level.
It can often be forgotten just how far Simeone has dragged Atleti the club a historic big club but one that has often clutched disaster from the jaws of victory. Aragones himself is part of that folklore scoring a late goal in extra time of their European Cup final against Bayern Munich only to lose in typical Atleti fashion conceding a late equaliser in the 119th minute before being hammered in the replay.
That pain hurt more because of who their rivals are with Real Madrid becoming THE giants of European football. When Simeone took over Atleti were a club who on their best seasons would finish fourth but were so far apart from the then big three of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia.
The side Simeone took charge over were an up and down team who won the Europa League two seasons before but had also just lost to third tier Albacete in the Copa del Rey.
Simeone was brought in just two days before Christmas off the back of that humiliation and quickly worked his magic transforming the side into one in his own image.
His first season ended with the Europa League title, dismantling an Athletic side who had captured the imagination under fellow Argentine Marcelo Bielsa. His second season the first full season saw them finish third, their highest finish since winning LaLiga in 1996 in the wild years of Jesus Gil when Simeone himself was a player.
That season also saw Atleti truly announce themselves when they took the Copa del Rey against Real Madrid and in the Bernabeu. That victory showed the mental fortitude Simeone had instilled in a team and a club whose reputation was to capitulate when the going got tough.
Real Madrid went ahead in the final and while Atleti pegged them bac,me which had for so many years been a curse to Atleti was a blessing with Miranda powering home.
The Simeone miracle seemed to only grow stronger in season three when his team defied the odds of the big two who had the heavy artillery of Messi and Ronaldo to claim the title and at the Camp Nou of all places. That victory was built on a clear philosophy of grit, counter attacking football and solid defence.
Built on players such as Gabi, Diego Godin and Diego Costa the team embodied everything Simeone stood for.
The defensive determination of the team matched their coach on the sideline who kicked and headed every ball and whipped the crowd into a frenzy.
Defending the title the following season was always going to be difficult with the big two coming back stronger to ward off the threat. While their league form tailed off in the Champions League Atletico Madrid made it all the way to the final.
That defeat felt a throwback to the history of Atleti and Real Madrid fans revelled in beating their rivals on the biggest stage. They couldn’t though shake off Atleti who now firmly established themselves as the third force of Spanish football with both Depor and Valencia falling away.
That though has been the crux of the problem for Atletico Madrid and Diego Simeone, they’ve established themselves as the third power but that seems to feel like their limit, occasional title wins while the glass ceiling of the big two slowly pull away on an uneven playing field in a league where tv money isn’t distributed evenly.
While Atleti have won LaLiga in 2021, reached the Champions League final again in 2016 only to lose once again to Real Madrid and yet again in cruel circumstances with penalties deciding their fate. For a number of years there has been a growing noise around the management of the team by Cholo Simeone.
Simeone has faced regular questions over whether he can move on from their initial success and evolve the tactics from the low block counter attacking football that gave them huge success.
Players such as Joao Felix came in for huge money and went with many pointing the finger at the coach for not being able to get the best out of them although Felix’s career path since has shown that it’s more to do with the player and his adaptability to the modern game than just a Simeone problem.
Atleti of today have lost the grit of the side with more technical players now part of the team such as Alex Baena, Pablo Barrios, Ademola Lookman and Thiago Almada. These players are far removed from the original Simeone team, a team who were greater than the sum of their parts.
When Atletico Madrid travelled to The Emirates earlier in the season what was most striking wasn’t just the 4-0 scoreline but the way Arsenal physically blew away Atleti, you can’t imagine the Atletico Madrid of Godin and Costa suffering a similar fate, in fact they’d have revelled in a match up like this.
When Atleti are great they’re unstoppable, this season they’ve beaten Real Madrid and Barcelona scoring five and four against the big two, they’re also incredibly inconsistent losing to Bodo/Glimt at home.
Fans have felt frustrated that Koke who is now 34 is still hugely depended on to set the tempo. When Koke plays well the rest of the team seems to follow suit and while admirable he’s still performing at such a high level, given the big financial outlays over the last few seasons it’s also frustrating the fanbase that one of their own is still doing so much of the heavy lifting.
Nothing summed up Atleti’s inconsistent performances more than two performances against Real Betis. On the Thursday they faced Betis in the Copa del Rey and destroyed them 0-5 at La Cartuja with new signing Ademola Lookman and Antoine Griezmann combining to devastating effect.
Just three days later Atleti lost at home to Betis in the league 0-1 unable to break down their Andalucian rivals. The performance drove Atleti fans wild with their inability to break down Betis just days after such a purring performance and led to familiar questions over whether this is the end for Cholo.
LaLiga has gone that much is clear with the side double digits behind both Barcelona and Real Madrid. This is the biggest drought Atleti have had in terms of winning a trophy since Simeone took over going four seasons since they lifted a trophy.
This is the strange paradox of being the third biggest side in the country and yet still quite a way away from the big two, they can beat them on the day yet seem unable to put together the consistency to mount regular title challenges.
While Villarreal have been improving and currently sit third the fact Atletico Madrid could sign Alex Baena from them is a sign of the gulf that still exists between the clubs.
Even the Copa del Rey which the club has won 10 times during their history hasn’t been lifted since that day at the Bernabeu in 2013. Embarrassing defeats to third tier sides such as Cultural Leonesa and Cornella have seen those critical of Simeone claim he hasn’t taken the competition seriously enough.
Last season they reached the semi-finals and a 4-4 draw away to Barcelona gave hope and seemingly home advantage but then a 0-1 defeat at home brought back familiar criticisms of the perceived negative style Simeone reverts to in big moments.
The Barcelona performance was Simeone showing his tactical acumen, his side ruthlessly exploited the high line of Barcelona time and time again, it strangely felt like they’d let Barcelona off the hook by the fact the scoreline was just a four goal margin such was the dominance.
It felt like a new dawn and then it was followed up by a 3-0 hammering to a Rayo side having to play their home ground at the home of Leganes. That defeat in many ways can be explained away, Rayo had over two weeks rest before the game and having suffered at the hands of their owner were determined to put on a show.
Atleti were heavily rotated with the Champions League on their mind and yet the performance against Club Brugge brought more frustration. Racing to a two goal lead suddenly Atleti started to drop deeper and deeper.
Typically, they were punished with the Belgians bringing it back to 2-2, that seemed to spark Atleti back to life and they soon put themselves back in the lead only to once again drop deep and pay the price with the game ending 3-3.
For every flash of a new style or the signing of a technical player who goes against what you’d imagine a Diego Simeone player to be there is a habit of reverting to type and dropping deep in decisive moments that costs Atleti. The Diego Godin’s and Juanfran that Simeone could rely on to hold the fort are no longer there.
Defenders like David Hancko are good but have a different skillset to the defenders of Simeone’s past who played with a knife between their teeth and had the grit and determination.
Without Simeone Atletico would never be in the position they are now, this summer they outspent Barcelona for the second successive season and it’s not assured that even with the buyout of the club by Apollo Capital that if the Argentine was to leave success would be guaranteed.
Atletico Madrid pre-Simeone were a big club but did not generate the international interest or international fanbase they have since the Simeone years. When they were once banned from playing at home in the 90s due to violence they moved the game to Extremadura but that was about as exotic as Atleti got.
Simeone has dragged the club into the conversation as one of the big three in Spain, they have a modern stadium which generates big income for the club and has helped to establish them off the pitch financially as a powerhouse.
Whether he or anyone can take Atleti to the next level is a tough question to answer, even with outspending Barcelona on the pitch and their new stadium they still don’t generate even half of what the big two generate in revenue. Atleti generated €454 million in 2025 while Barcelona generated €974 million and Real Madrid reached over €1.1 billion.
To even be in the conversation as title contenders at the start of every season when you compare the clubs financially is nothing short of a miracle and shows the work Simeone has done at Atleti.
Having been there for over 15 years and having taken them to league titles and from the Calderon to the Metropolitano it’s hard to imagine life without the charismatic Argentinian in charge of Atletico Madrid.
Every defeat or draw though brings familiar questions around whether he can move the club on to that elusive next step that is often talked about in relation to the club, the bigger question is in the reality of the financial disparity even with the takeover is that next step even real or is it just imagined?
We might one day look back at this era and Atletico Madrid fans around the world might say we didn’t know what we had until he was gone or he might have set them on their way to greater things under a new coach.
I often think back to when Valencia had Unai Emery and despite consecutive third places finishes in his three seasons the fact they were so far away from the big two and the style of play led to Valencia fans baying for his blood.
Despite the perceived success of third to the fans it felt like they were just treading water and not seeing progression it is only in hindsight the Eemry days are viewed fondly.
Since Emery left Valencia have never gotten close to those days albeit the circumstance to Atletico Madrid are wildly different.
Now for Atletico Madrid all eyes turn to a huge night in the Champions League where they must beat Club Brugge followed by the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final where they just have to avoid a capitulation of epic proportions to seal their place in the final.
If they’re knocked out of either competition in the coming weeks then it will be a case of groundhog day once again as we board the never ending rollercoaster over whether Simeone is the man to lead Atleti going forward.
This is a great breakdown of Atletico Madrid. Simeone has done a great job as manager of this club, I feel. I really do feel the financial constraints of La Liga hamper their chances of consistently challenging for the La Liga title. Isn't there is something with the way La Liga gives the majority of the revenue the league generates to Barca and Real Madrid, which is the main reason why they are also the top two in comparison to the Premier League, which spreads it out more evenly and is determined by where you finish in the league?
I feel they need to win this match against Club Brugge, and there is no reason why they should not, especially being at home. From a selfish perspective, I'm excited to see how Johnny Carodoso plays as a USMNT fan. Lastly, as a Seattle Sounders diehard fan, I am hoping that Obed Vargas gets some time in tonight's match!
Very kind thank you