Whilst Diego Simeone has done a remarkable job establishing Atletico Madrid as one of Spain's top clubs again, none of the major honours he has won in his time there have ever been expected. Both Simeone and the club have relished the idea of being perennial underdogs and that has been the case in the last 8 or 9 years.
https://youtu.be/K2hv-gtDOIM
The club has garnered the nickname of Los Colchoneros (The Mattress Makers) because of the red and white stripes on their kit which is a design commonly found on mattresses in Spain. Its somewhat of a stark contrast to their city rivals Real Madrid who have glamorously been known as the Galacticos because of their tendency to sign world stars.
In fact, because or Real's immense success it has always been difficult for Atletico to outshine Los Blancos both on and off the pitch. Despite that, the club still has an impressive list of honours winning 11 La Liga's and 10 Copa del Rey's. However, the one trophy that has constantly eluded Atletico is the Champions League or European Cup as it used to be known. They lost heartbreakingly in a replay to Bayern Munich in 1974 and would have to wait 40 years to return to the final, making both the 13/14 final and the 15/16 final but losing both times to Real, first in extra time and then on penalties.
Luckily for Atletico they would get to celebrate a huge win over Real in the 13/14 La Liga campaign. Since Rafa Benitez's Valencia had won the league in 2004, Barcelona and Real had combined for the last 9 titles and seemed to hold a monopoly over the rest of the league. Los Colchoneros on the other hand, had been in the Spanish second tier as recently as 2002 after they were relegated in 2000 for the first time in 66 years.
They were fired back to the top flight by the goals of homegrown Fernando Torres who stayed with Atletico until 2007 when he was sold to Liverpool.in order to raise funds to further build the squad. The rebuilding worked and the club won the Europa League in 2010 under the management of Quique. A disappointing run throughout the back half of 2010 and 2011 forced the club into the appointment of Simeone as manager.
El Cholo immediately made a difference with his gritty style of football. Atletico were now very hard to beat and it showed, winning the 2012 Europa League against Bilbao and following it up the next season with a UEFA Super Cup win and a momentous Copa del Rey title. The reason the latter was so important is because Atleti finally beat Real 2-1 in a tense match. It ended a 14 year and 25 match winless streak in the Madrid derby and finally provided a change in mentality that Los Colchoneros would need for a title challenge.
Simeone's men made an amazing start to the season winning 7 straight including a 1-0 win at the Bernabeu, in an ill tempered affair. In fact, 22 games through the season, Atletico had only lost once and were staking a huge claim on their title credentials. They wobbled slightly in February and early March dropping eight points which began to worry Atleti fans that they would produce a classic bottle on major silverware.
However, those fears appeared to dissipate after a 9 game winning run that left Atletico four points clear with three games remaining. Then disaster struck and history appeared to be repeating itself as Simeone's men only picked up one point from their next two matches against mid table sides Levante and Malaga.
To win the league, Los Colchoneros would have to go away to the Nou Camp on the final day and avoid defeat against a Barcelona team who would leapfrog Atletico to clinch the title if they won.
It's not often a season goes down to the final day in modern football, but its even rarer that the final game is a winner takes all match. Many Atleti fans would have been fearing the worst as well when Alexis Sanchez scored a brilliant goal 34 minutes in to put Barca in front.
However, this was a new Atletico team that Simeone had built and the likes of
Koke, Gabi, Miranda,
Juanfran and
Filipe Luis had been solid all season long whilst
David Villa and
Diego Costa had grabbed all the teams goals. It would be an unlikely hero for Los Colchoneros in Catalonia though, and four minutes after the half time break
Diego Godin would pop up to level the scores. The Uruguayan's goal was enough for Atletico, who held out under severe pressure for a draw and clinched their first title since 1996.
Simeone was officially crowned as a club legend, and Atleti fans were dancing in the streets after a Madrid triumph in Barcelona. Sweetest of all, was that for once the spoils weren't heading to the Bernabeu.
