11 September 2024 - 12:45 PM
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IMAGO | Diego Simeone during the match between Atletico Madrid and Girona CF at Metropolitano in Madrid this season.
Atlético Madrid are no longer minnows – are they under-achieving?
- Atlético Madrid under Diego Simeone have long been viewed as the plucky upstarts seeking to unseat the might of FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, but Los Colchoneros now enjoy resources most other clubs can only dream of.
- The club’s move to a state-of-the-art stadium in 2017 required taking on significant debt, and substantial spending on transfers since, has caused the club’s financial liabilities to double compared to the year before the move.
- Why it matters: Atléti undertook a capital increase last month, sparking questions about the club’s finances.
- The perspective: The mid-2010s saw the club regularly make eight-figure profits, but the need to keep up with rivals at home and abroad, alongside the withering effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, has wiped out the Atléti’s recent financial gains.
It was Antoine Griezmann, because who else would it be? As the sun drooped in mid-September, the autumn light disappearing from view, it was Griezmann – French international, Atlético Madrid royalty – whose goal would both coronate his club’s new home and ensure he would remain forever etched in Atléti folklore.
Griezmann’s 61st-minute winner against Malaga in an otherwise uneventful La Liga game provided the
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