Diego Simeone has transformed Atletico Madrid – but have things gone stale? | OneFootball

The Champions League quarters are upon us. While Real Madrid vs Bayern is the most historic tie in the competition’s history, the Atleti-Barca fixture has its own appeal.

In recent years it has been one of the most entertaining fixtures in European football, with nine encounters taking place since the start of 2024. And there have been a few standouts.

Last season, ‘Los Colchoneros’ won away from home for the first time in nearly 19 years, surrendered a 2-0 lead at home after the 70th minute and played a thrilling 4-4 draw in the cup semi-final. All of them are coming in games against Barcelona.

This season, they got their revenge by winning the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final 4-0, which was enough to secure a place in the final despite losing three-nil at the revamped Camp Nou. And to add more spice to an already tasty fixture, they last faced each other as recently as last weekend, with the Catalans snatching a late winner in the 88th minute.

Diego Simeone played his cards close to his chest, leaving Ademola Lookman and Julian Alvarez on the bench and starting Nico Gonzalez, a left-winger by trade, as a left-back.

His duel with Lamine Yamal did not end well as he got sent off in the first half.

As a result, Simeone adopted an attritional strategy for the second half, putting 10 men behind the ball whilst also bringing on two players making their first-team debuts.

Marcos Llorente and new midfield sensation Johnny Cardoso also didn’t feature due to suspension. The ‘Blaugrana’, on the other hand, have been dealt a tough hand when it comes to injuries, Raphinha and Marc Bernal are both ruled out for both legs while it remains to be seen whether Alejandro Balde and Frenkie de Jong will be fit to make an impact.

Wednesday’s first leg at the Camp Nou promises to be an entirely different story from Saturday’s showdown, with Atleti expected to field a drastically different line-up.

This will be the ninth all-Spanish tie in Champions League history and will be the third time the two sides have faced off in the quarters in the past 12 years.

Much has changed in those 12 years since but there are still three players still playing at the club for the ‘Rojiblancos’: Antoine Griezmann, Jan Oblak and Koke.

The Frenchman has already been announced as a marquee summer signing for Orlando City while Oblak has been plagued with a muscular injury over the past month. And then there is the captain, Koke, who is the only player who played in both the 2014 and 2016 quarter-finals.

But there is one more remaining constant: Diego Simeone. ‘El Cholo’ has been Atletico manager since December 2011 and the club has undergone a major overhaul under his stewardship.

Atleti before and after Simeone

He is the most successful manager in Atletico history, winning La Liga and the Europa League twice whilst also reaching two Champions League finals.

In his first full season, Atletico qualified for the Champions League and have been a regular in the competition ever since.

The club has played in the Champions League 18 times in their entire history. Eleven of those have come under Simeone.

The club that the 55-year-old took over has undergone a massive transformation. According to an article from the Guardian in 2010, Atletico’s wage bill was higher than their operating income.

Now they are regulars in the Champions League, thanks to Simeone, they boast the 12th highest revenue stream in world football as well as the 13th highest wage bill, according to the Deloitte Money League and Transfermarkt respectively.

They spent €240million to build the Metropolitano stadium and invested more than €350million for their new training ground.

These investments in turn permit them to spend heavy transfer fees on players like Joao Felix and Julian Alvarez.

Simeone himself is the highest-paid manager in the sport, as revealed last June, and is currently under contract until 2027.

The Argentine manager has signed five publicly declared contract extensions but his continuation in the Spanish capital has come under doubt over the years.

Rumours started circulating in 2016 that Simeone was going to leave Atletico in 2018 to coach Inter. Rumours were fuelled by the fact that he had shortened his contract duration by two years.

Once Atletico entered their new stadium, Simeone extended his deal in 2017, effectively shutting down speculation in Spain.

His son, Giovanni Simeone, has stated on different occasions that he believes his father will one day take over the ‘Nerrazzurri’.

For context, Cholo spent eight seasons playing in Italy, including two with Inter, where he even won the UEFA Cup. He also coached Catania in Serie A for six months, successfully navigating them through a relegation battle.

Doubts started creeping in at the start of this season after Atletico recorded only one win from their first six games.

Rumours about Simeone’s return to Milan resurfaced in January, but Inter president Beppe Marotta shut them down by calling them ‘fake news’.

A few weeks ago, Spanish publication Diario AS revealed that Simeone and Atleti will continue together until the 2026-2027 season, with a possible extension till 2028 also on the cards.

Since winning La Liga in 2021, Atletico have struggled to be competitive. While their place in the Champions League has never been under threat, they failed to even make the cup final until this season, even losing a two-legged semi-final to Athletic Club in 2024.

In Europe’s premier competition, Atleti finished bottom of their group in 2022-23 before losing a quarter-final tie to Dortmund the following season.

The closest they came to competing for La Liga was last season, when they were one point off the top after 25 games. But two straight losses and a draw later and they were out of the title race by the start of April.

This season, they sit in fourth, 12 points ahead of Real Betis in fifth place, and will play in the Copa del Rey final against Real Sociedad four days after the second leg against Barcelona.

Whether Atleti can get over the line and deliver something special for their fans remains to be seen, but winning the cup should alleviate some of the doubts towards Simeone.

After all, he is the one responsible for raising the club’s competitive standards.