Will Atletico Madrid ever going to be a big team?

Atletico Madrid are still unable to make that final step that is required in order to compete with the best teams in Spain. A lot of money have been invested in the team over the last few years and the fans have great expectations year in year out but something always go wrong. According to the names in the squad Atletico should be able to enter even the title race but that is unlikely to happen this season as well. They do well against the smaller teams and usually record very good results but once they face direct rivals for the top of the table they look like a bunch of amateurs. Fans always have big expectations before the encounters with Barcelona, Real Madrid, Sevilla and Valencia, but they end up very disappointed. Atletico didn’t win a single point against these four teams this season and that is very worrying. Players like Forlan, Simao, Aguero, Maniche, and Maxi Rodriguez are playing very well in the smaller games but they cannot step up the plate when the team needs them the most.

Maybe coach Javier Aguirre is to blame for this inability to cope against big Spanish teams as it is all about psychological preparation of the match. We cannot say that these players cannot cope with the pressure as they are doing just fine playing for their national teams. Team’s defence has suffered a lot of critics lately but Ujfalusi and Heitinga cannot be blamed for all the problems. All the players need to take part in defence and the back line is often left too exposed at the back. Atletico made some progress this season by qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League but that is hardly a consolation for the fans who expect the team to revive the 90’s when the team was one of the giants of Spanish football together with Barcelona and Real Madrid. Desperate times call for desperate measures and maybe the change of coach would have a positive effect on the team as they clearly have good enough squad to fight for the honours this season. I hope that club management will find a way to get Atletico where they belong and Primera would certainly be much more interesting with Atletico in the title race.