Many fans of various teams across the world will claim
that their club gets no respect from others.
Fans of Real Madrid, Manchester City, and PSG will say
that they don’t get the credit they deserve because they are perceived as
having spent their way to the top, rather than having built a team organically.
Meanwhile, fans of teams such as Barcelona, Juventus, and
Manchester United will say that their insistence on playing a certain way,
sometimes at the expense of results, invites ridicule.
Still others, such as fans of Tottenham, Liverpool, and
Bayer Leverkusen, say that their respective clubs’ long trophy droughts make
them easy targets.
However, there is one club that nearly everyone has
forgotten about. A club that delivers results season after season and is
certainly among the world’s leading clubs, but is never talked about at that
level.
Not only has this club been consistently performing at a
high level for years, but it has also done so while losing star player after
star player, and it also has a far lower budget than many of its rivals.
Despite this, this club is often slept on by fans.
This club is Atlético Madrid.
As I write this, Atlético have just beaten Valencia, who
lie third in La Liga, in a 1-0 victory highlighted by a spectacular Ángel
Correa goal. Atlético are currently second, nine points behind Barcelona.
Given their relative lack of resources, especially
compared to the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG, and Manchester City, just
to name a few, what they have achieved over the last decade has been truly
remarkable.
Over the last ten seasons, Atlético have finished in the
top four in La Liga, thus qualifying them for the Champions League, seven
times. In the last five seasons, they have been in the top three, winning La
Liga in 2014. Atlético also won the Copa del Rey in 2013 and have reached at
least the quarterfinals of the Champions League every year for the last four
years, including reaching the final in 2014 and 2016.
Even in the three seasons in which Atlético did not
finish in the top four, they won the Europa League in two of them. The only
season that Atlético have had over the last 10 years that could be quantified
as a failure was their 2010-11 campaign, when they were seventh in the league
and knocked out early in the Europa League.
That’s not even the most amazing aspect of Atlético’s
success.
Look at these names who have left Atlético over that time
period.
Fernando Torres. Sergio Agüero. Diego Forlán. Radamel
Falcao. Diego Costa. Thibaut Courtois. Maxi Rodríguez.
Not only have they survived all these departures, they
have thrived in the face of them – a testament to the club’s grit and resolve.
Furthermore, Atlético Madrid have the best front office
and development team of any club in the world.
It’s not even close.
When Courtois left, Atlético replaced him with Jan Oblak,
a 21-year-old who had played just 94 career professional league matches, none
coming in one of the leading European leagues.
Four years later, Oblak has become arguably the world’s
best goalkeeper.
Before Diego Costa played his first match for Atlético,
he had been loaned out four times and scored 29 career league goals in 112
appearances.
Atlético turned him into a world-class centre-forward.
Atlético are also one of the world’s best teams when it
comes to spotting young talent.
Here are the ages that some of Atlético’s current
starting 11 were when they made their debuts for the club.
Saúl Ñiguez: 18. Oblak: 21. Antoine Griezmann: 23. Koke:
17. Correa: 20. Gabi: 20.
All six are major contributors for Atlético right now.
Even though they have always been in the shadow of their
city rivals Real, when it comes to achieving results in the face of adversity,
Atlético are lightyears ahead of the rest of Europe, and truly a model club for
all others.
All of this, combined with their lack of public
recognition, make Atlético the most underappreciated, disrespected football
club in the world.
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