Atletico Madrid’s Champions League progress reveals Simeone & Co. have rediscovered their id

Ralf Rangnick wasn’t comfortable, and nor have been the followers throwing bottles at Diego Simeone as he sprinted up the touchline, dodged missiles and ducked into the tunnel within the nook of Outdated Trafford. On the finish of Manchester United‘s Champions League elimination on Tuesday evening, their supervisor complained about Atletico Madrid‘s “time-wasting antics,” grumbling: “I do not know if the sport as performed greater than two minutes with out being interrupted with somebody mendacity on the ground.”

“Their fashion is just not actually for me to touch upon,” the United captain Harry Maguire stated. “However” — and also you knew there was a ‘however’ coming — “each time you contact them, they go down and it is a foul. They sit behind the ball, however they’ve quite a few numbers it’s a must to break down and if you give them the primary aim it makes life a lot more durable … they sit again and it is arduous to create one thing.”

An nearly sinister fashion, as one many English match reviews had it, a group using all of the “outdated methods”. Based on The i, “this was s—housery at its most cynical”, and it wasn’t simply them. The Guardian described Atletico as “scrapping and s—housing”, “comfortable to indulge within the darker arts,” whereas The Every day Mail as “greater than a little bit tough”, noting “there have been loads of delays, loads of agonising accidents adopted by miraculous recoveries as soon as treasured time had been taken.”

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Go on Twitter — higher nonetheless, do not — and it was a little bit stronger: soiled, defensive, nasty, boring. Cheats.

“They’ve been taking part in like this for ten years; it is the way in which they play,” Rangnick stated.

It was straightforward to think about Simeone listening in as his reverse quantity spoke, studying all these issues that have been written, and pondering…

… individuals say the nicest issues.

First, a caveat or two. Manchester United actually weren’t superb. Weren’t and possibly aren’t, both. Over two legs, Atletico have been in all probability the higher aspect. To take the opening line from one other match report, this time after the primary leg: “The place did that come from?” (That being United’s aim on the finish of a sport they’d not likely been in.)

As for the Atletico aim that finally received it this week: watch it once more, and it is really very good.

Fairly actually, seen from Spain, the second leg actually did not really feel prefer it ranked notably excessive on the skulduggery scale both. Possibly you get desensitised to it after some time — and it has been an extended whereas. Possibly as a result of then the stat got here out, and it stated that within the final half an hour, the ball was in play for under 11:19. When it was, it was normally at United’s toes: they’d 60% of possession.

So to the purpose, and the purpose is that Simeone wasn’t about to recoil at that stat, nor get indignant at these phrases; he wasn’t about to see them as a slight. As an alternative, he would welcome them, even perhaps embrace them with extra satisfaction than ever earlier than. They’d have introduced a smile, not a salvo — nonetheless much less a defence. That is for on the pitch. You could possibly image him going all Monty Burns: “excellent!”

It was glorious, too, and right here comes one other caveat: what Atletico had performed was recognised, not simply rejected. Do not suppose these reviews have been all about ethical outrage, nonetheless much less a burning sense of injustice. Even when it was grudging — and it wasn’t at all times — there was admiration. An consciousness that, in their very own method, Atletico had deserved this.

Let’s return to those self same papers. The match report in The Guardian stated: “Atletico obtained the small particulars proper, notably when it comes to their defensive form, with gamers at all times in place or near the United man in possession, slicing off the choices, ratcheting up the frustration,” its accompanying sidebar pausing to supply “a phrase for Atletico who have been shamelessly magnificent, channelling some ouija-board imaginative and prescient of their former selves, scrapping and s—housing just like the group they as soon as have been.”

“Atletico Madrid did a quantity on United,” The Every day Mail wrote. “They performed on the counter, obtained the aim, then dug in for the remaining 49 minutes. They’re so good at it. One of the best, actually.” They’re “technically adept, bodily resilient.” Jan Oblak, the paper wrote, was “distinctive;” Jose Maria Gimenez “glorious;” Koke “great;” “on nights like this, Atletico look so sensible, their organisation, their sport intelligence, so spectacular … [this] is what has made Simeone and his group admired and reviled in equal measure.”

“Atletico know what they have been doing, their mastery of the persuasive arts, of cynical smarts, falling appropriately beneath a problem, all contributed to the lock and key operation they ran,” The i wrote. “Atletico Madrid set concerning the evening like decide pockets: elusive, fast, out and in of vary and able to deploy each sleight of hand possible. Simeone’s cynical group are to not everyone’s tastes, however no less than they’ve common an id.”

And there it’s, proper there.

Identification.

If Simeone smiled at these phrases, the irritation and anger, it wasn’t just a few kind of “suck it up, sunshine,” the enjoyable of laughing on the whining loser; it wasn’t simply because he had received, both. It was additionally how he had received. It was as a result of he wished it this fashion. Wanted it this fashion. As a result of Rangnick was improper: Atletico have not precisely been taking part in this fashion for 10 years and after they haven’t, everybody was comfortable about it. It’s as a result of they have not even performed this fashion this 12 months, not to mention over the previous decade.

Additionally, this wasn’t only a return to the Champions League quarterfinals — the sixth time Atletico have gotten there in 9 years beneath Simeone — it was a return to what they’re. That, no less than, is what they hope. Simeone does, actually.

Over the previous few years, it could possibly really feel like nearly each season, there’s a second by which Atletico evolve in the direction of one thing a little bit totally different … after which a second after they evolve again once more, returning to their roots. Then final season, they performed a method that basically wasn’t “traditional Atletico,” conditioned by the kind of gamers they’d, Luis Suarez particularly, they took the sport nearer to the opposition’s space, used the counterattack much less, and received the league. A brand new model of them gave the impression to be forming, notably after they signed Matheus Cunha and Rodrigo De Paul, additionally welcomed again Antoine Griezmann, in the summertime.

Unusual although it might sound, that was a part of their drawback: being champions modified issues and having a squad that some rushed, possibly a little bit prematurely, to declare the perfect of their historical past did so too. Even when solely at some unconscious degree. Gimenez admitted that there was a form of rest, much less a way of riot. There have been adjustments, an uncertainty about what they’re and possibly even what they wished to be, an incapacity to discover a settled aspect or id. Cracks appeared.

A few of it did not make sense — fortune shouldn’t be ignored, straightforward explanations mustn’t at all times be embraced solely — however the season slipped from them rapidly, their title defence over earlier than it had actually began. There have been accidents too, nevertheless it usually felt prefer it was administering abundance that was a difficulty greater than getting the perfect from restricted assets. Atletico have been principally superior to their opponents — frankly, they’ve been higher in defeat than in victory at instances — which possibly they knew, and possibly was a part of the purpose.

Atletico misplaced video games they could not at all times clarify, and received wild ones that did not make a lot sense both: there have been back-to-back, final minute 4-Three and 3-2 wins on the Metropolitano just lately. The outcomes weren’t good, and the group simply wasn’t good on the issues that they have been imagined to be good at. They confronted fewer pictures than every other aspect, however had solely LaLiga‘s 12th-best defence when it comes to targets conceded. Even Oblak was simply … nicely, not himself. It was telling that after Tuesday evening’s win, Simeone cited “an Oblak who went again to giving us tranquillity once more.”

There was one thing lacking, one thing improper. Atletico weren’t very Atletico.

When Atletico misplaced to Levante at house on Feb. 16, one newspaper stated they’d hit all-time low. Simeone had by no means been so questioned earlier than, his time seeming to come back to an finish lower than 12 months after successful the title. That Friday, there was a gathering between Simeone, membership CEO Miguel Angel Gil Marín and the sporting director Andrea Berta at a restaurant referred to as La Lonja. They then went collectively to the coaching floor and spoke to the gamers, the message so direct as to incorporate a reminder that in the event that they did not qualify for the Champions League subsequent season, a few of their contracts could be in danger. It additionally included a re-establishing of Simeone’s authority.

We all know concerning the assembly as a result of Simeone revealed it and has introduced it up repeatedly since, which is in itself vital. He did not publicly supply up the main points, however he did say that “issues occurred then that imply this stuff occur now.”

What’s occurring now could be this: since that assembly, Atletico have performed six video games, beginning with victory at Osasuna. They’ve received 5 and drawn one (the draw being that first leg towards United). It hasn’t at all times been that good (frankly, they have been horrible towards Cadiz, for instance, and have been a little bit lucky at Osasuna) however there’s been a glimpse of the outdated Atletico: much less possession, extra punch, extra physicality. With out Suarez, there was a willingness to play on the break.

There’s a willpower to withstand — to “endure,” of their phrases, to defend and wait and belief that they may discover a method via, opponents falling into the lure set. To struggle tooth and nail to carry on to what they’ve. Simeone tweaked the 5-3-2 formation, shifting Griezmann to offer Atletico a 5-4-1, and so they did. However let’s not go too far right here: in the long run, this may increasingly have been defensive, even cynical, nevertheless it was what they do and it was performed so nicely as to hardly ever really feel like they might lose.

Towards one other aspect, possibly they might, however what actually issues is that Atletico really feel like they know what they’re now, with a stability rising within the aspect. There are different components, too. Stefan Savic and Gimenez returning to full health. Joao Felix is lastly performing constantly — “he’ll hold getting irritated with me, however he’ll thank me someday,” Simeone stated — and Marcos Llorente is match once more. Renan Lodi, who scored at Outdated Trafford, has emerged as an sudden flying wing-back.

It will be too simplistic to name it “again to fundamentals,” however there’s one thing in that and relating to outcomes, that is by far the perfect run Atletico have had all season. As a lot as purely the footballing strategy, it is one thing extra intangible, too. A mind-set. A collective spirit; name it a trigger. Possibly they wanted one thing to struggle towards, one thing to carry them collectively beneath Simeone’s management, authority and concepts, all of that expressed at Outdated Trafford.

“It has been arduous to seek out the suitable keys to press,” Koke admitted on Tuesday. “It is tough to clarify [why], however we’re discovering them now, little by little.” Griezmann talked a couple of “stable, compact group.” Precisely what Atletico are, precisely what they weren’t. “Cholismo is again,” the media declared.

“A lot of individuals have labored to make sure issues go nicely, bringing us all collectively a month and a half in the past,” Simeone insisted. “All of it begins at Osasuna: from Osasuna [onward], the group confirmed one other spirit, one other power, energy, the transitions are a lot quicker: they know that we will damage groups on the break. I see a aggressive aspect, one that does not really feel ashamed to drop deep, one which is aware of what to do when the ball comes out. When you do not hand over, if you practice, if you work, an opportunity at all times seems.”

Over a decade, he has watched it occur, and right here it was once more.

“When a group works as a group, I really feel hope,” Simeone stated.