A new look: Diego Simeone has ripped up the script and Atletico Madrid are all the better for it

At the time of writing, Atletico Madrid sit 2nd in La Liga, just one point off Real Madrid in first and two points ahead of Barcelona (albeit with a game in hand), whom many people would say have been the most impressive side to watch across Europe. Simeone is doing it again, competing with these two juggernauts of the sport whilst spending a fraction of the money on transfer fees. Same old story.

Except it’s not. For there has been a huge change across the side which will see the worldwide public conception of Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid side flipped on its head. 

There is an argument to be made that Atletico are playing some of the most attacking football in Europe.

That’s right. This is the same Atletico Madrid who were renowned for their antagonistic approach to games and their warrior-like mentality which saw them win two la-liga titles during the peak of the Barcelona vs Real Madrid rivalry. Now they’ve completely rebranded.

The style of football they play is now so fluid that they don’t really have a set formation with the ball. Often they will leave one midfielder alone in the centre of the pitch and then go all out to attack the box and generate a chance of some sort. Players such as Griezmann, Sorloth, Alvarez, De Paul and even the coach's son Giuliano Simeone, are all thriving under this new footballing identity that the Argentinian has now implemented. Now, this new system hasn’t been introduced without reason. Something had to change as Atleti hadn’t made it past the quarter finals of the competition since the 2016/17 season, whilst being eliminated in the group stage as recently as the 2022/23 campaign. It became apparent to Simeone that to finally win the elusive Champions League, he can’t just park all players behind the ball and hope to get lucky with a counter-attacking goal against the run of play. You now have to be able to outscore teams as the attacking quality of Europe’s elite is just too good to completely shut out. 

What makes things more interesting however, is that Simeone can still revert back to his old methods when he needs to. For example, this season against Bayer Leverkusen and Barcelona, Atletico were completely dominated in all facets of the game. Both teams had much more of the ball and easily trumped the Colchoneros in terms of shots on target and expected goals accumulated, with Atleti even going a man down in the 23rd minute against Leverkusen. However Diego Simeone knows a thing or two about getting a result under improbable circumstances and that’s exactly what Atletico Madrid were able to do, scoring last-gasp winners in each of the games to rescue a significant 3 points. A tribute to the Atleti of old. 

Now as we are reaching the business end of the UCL, Simeone is in a position where he can dive in and out of each of these play styles when they best suit his team. He can go on the offensive when he feels it necessary but can also shut up shop and hark back to the anti-football days for which he was famed for. This blend of tactics can lead to an air of unpredictability which many European teams may struggle to deal with.

This new look Atletico Madrid team are better placed now than they have been in a long time to finally win the coveted Champions League trophy so I implore you to watch this space in the next few months because there is a chance that Simeone has finally cracked the winning formula.