Diego Simeone's side finished third last season but is ready to overtake its great city rivals as well as the Catalans and dominate the Spanish football landscape.
Diego Simeone held Antoine Griezmann’s head after the Frenchman missed a penalty in the Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid in May. It is impossible to guess exactly what was said between them, but it can be assumed Simeone told his forward that Atletico Madrid’s time would come. Whether Simeone would be around to see it was another matter as the impact of the defeat was so severe.
Atletico’s band of unified warriors were turned into mere extras for the Cristiano Ronaldo show at San Siro in May and the haunted look of Juanfran — the fullback who missed his penalty in the shootout — became the defining image of the occasion.