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Can Atlético Madrid Make Up Ground In The La Liga Title Race?
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Can Atlético Madrid Make Up Ground In The La Liga Title Race?

13/04/25 17:22

With eight games left in the La Liga season, Atlético Madrid currently reside in third place in the standings, still chasing down Barcelona and Real Madrid to clinch the title. Here’s how they could claim their 12th championship.

The Story So Far

Atlético Madrid started the season off strong before it even began, bringing in some great acquisitions in the summer transfer window. Julián Alvarez, Connor Gallagher, Robin Le Normand and Alexander Sørloth were the main ones to come through the doors and they have delivered for the club this season and then some.

Bringing in talent wasn’t the only deals that were happening in Madrid as they saw a mass exodus of players leave the club for either hefty sums of money, on loan moves or running down their contracts which allowed Atlético to bring in the great talent they did. João Félix, Álvaro Morata, Memphis Depay, Saúl Ñíguez, Stefan Savic and Gabriel Paulista were once key parts of Diego Simeone’s tactics but the club felt that they were no longer needed.

Once all the new arrivals had settled in, Atlético got off to a great start to the campaign, going unbeaten inside their first 10 games. Come the winter break (Matchday 19) and Atlético Madrid sat top of the table with Diego Simeone picking up the La Liga Manager of the Month for December after leading his team to a 12-game winning streak. That lead in the standings unfortunately didn’t last long as by the time they played their next match; their fierce rivals Real Madrid had ousted them from top spot.

A month went past and Atlético demoted even further to third place but they still remained in contention for the La Liga title, trailing Barcelona and Real Madrid by just a single point. Leading up to their next match on Monday, Atlético Madrid have seen their title chances essentially evaporate. Barcelona have pulled away from the rest of the pack to hold a 10-point lead over Atlético but second place is still up for grabs. Stealing that away from their local rivals Real Madrid would be great for them, claiming bragging rights for a while. After 30 games Atlético are left with a of record of 19 wins, five losses and six draws. Those results have left them with a tally of 60 points, six points behind Real after their triumph at the weekend.

Simeone might be getting his players to produce the most visually exciting football in the world but he is getting results. Los Colchoneros have the best joint defensive record across La Liga, conceding 24 goals and averaging letting in 0.8 goals per match. They have kept 13 clean sheets, leading the league in that metric.

Who Can Help?

Julián Alvarez, Antoine Griezmann and Alexander Sørloth have been the ones to make a proper impact in front of goal for Atlético this season. Alvarez has provided 14 goal contributions in La Liga with Griezmann and Sørloth trailing not to far behind with 13 contributions each.

Diego Simeone’s style of football is very much through a defensive mindset and Atlético have excelled in that department. Goalkeeper Jan Oblak has been key to the success they have shown as of right now. Over the course of 90 minutes, the 32-year-old has a save percentage of 74.2%, averaged 2.4 saves per match and conceded an average of 0.8 goal per match, on top of keeping 12 clean sheets. Those stats make him the best goalkeeper in La Liga, leading the way in all of those categories. After a scare from a head injury earlier on in the season, Robin Le Normand had been one of the elite centre backs in Spain’s topflight. The pair of them have probably earnt themselves a place in the La Liga Team of the Season when all is said and done.

Remaining Matches

In the eight games that are left to play in La Liga, Atlético Madrid will come up against opponents that average in 13/14th place. Wins in these matches are crucial to them as they can’t exclusively rely on both Barcelona and Real Madrid to go on an abysmal run of form. Whilst that is very unlikely to happen, Barça and Real have the pleasure of looking forward to opponents placed in an average of 8th and 9th place respectively.

Barcelona will have to face tough sides like Celta Vigo, Real Madrid, Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao whereas Real Madrid are also set to come up against Athletic Bilbao, Celta Vigo and then obviously league leaders Barcelona. The pair of them do also UEFA Champions League campaigns to focus on as well, but after suffering a 3-0 defeat to Arsenal, it remains to be seen if they can turn that tie around. The more games Barcelona and Real Madrid play, the higher risk of injuries and a higher risk in completely losing all form when they need it the most.

Can Atlético It?

Weighing up all the factors at play, it looks like Atlético Madrid will ultimately come up short this season. Despite the tougher run of games that Barcelona and Real Madrid possess, it just doesn’t seem likely they will play disastrously bad against in these final games.

Atlético Madrid will have a ‘never say never’ attitude heading into the remainder of the season as that’s all that Simeone’s men can really do. Their next game is against already relegated Real Valladolid so they should claim a vital set of three points this Monday but only time will tell if their competitors will see their title chances slip away from them in a matter of seven games.

Benji Kosartiyer
Journalist
Luca Testa

Lead Writer

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