Atletico Madrid's Vicente Calderon opened 50 years ago this week. The stadium on the banks of the River Manzanares has served the club well, but it is shabby and showing its age.
Atletico have long considered moving, and their new 73,729 capacity stadium which has risen in the northwest of the Spanish capital is clearly visible to passengers landing at Madrid’s Barajas airport.
Atletico are scheduled to move to their new home for the start of next season. Diego Simeone wants to be in charge when they move and he is right to believe that another 20,000 seats, plus revenues from more executive facilities, will help push Spain’s third biggest club closer to the biggest two.
If Atletico can fill it, they will be in the same league – crowd wise – as Barcelona and Real Madrid.
The new stadium began life as a potential venue for a future Olympic Games. Madrid tried and failed to win the Games three times and the current economic climate in Spain would not permit another bid. Atletico hope for better fortune than Valencia, too, whose own new stadium – also built with the intention of bridging the gap between the big two – has stood half finished and idle since 2009.
Atletico’s new home, which will be one of football’s great arenas, is much closer to being finished, but it remains a bold move, for there were an average of 6,000 empty seats at each home game inside the Vicente Calderon last season.
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• Player to watch: Samir Nasri, Manchester City midfielder with second life at Sevilla
• Diego Forlan column: As Alaves showed, even small teams can defeat giants like Barcelona
Atletico do have a team worthy of a bigger venue. Sunday’s 2-0 win at a spirited Valencia, combined with Barcelona’s defeat at Celta Vigo and Real Madrid drawing at home to Eibar, meant Simeone’s side moved to the top of the league on goal difference over their neighbours.
As with last season, Atletico have by far the best defence in Spain and have conceded only two goals in seven matches. Unlike last season, they have started to score more in attack, up to two per game from 1.7 and that includes away games at Barcelona and Valencia.
Atletico are taking more shots, winning more possession and making more passes. That comes with risks when their strength has always been as a cautious counter-attacking side built on an obdurate and physically strong defence.
Set pieces have always been a strength, too, plus stability, a mixture of homegrown heroes, imported grafters and an indefatigable team spirit, but a new more offensive approach – more so against weaker opponents where Simeone plays more attacking players - is evident.
Atletico are also top of a difficult Uefa Champions League group, having inflicted Bayern Munich’s first defeat of the season and beaten PSV Eindhoven 1-0 away in their first game.
Simeone has made changes from the side that reached the Champions League final and finished three points behind Barcelona last season. New forward Kevin Gameiro is settling in, scoring, assisting and combining well with lead striker Antoine Griezmann, plus the more peripheral but still valuable Fernando Torres. Gameiro’s goal was the best in Spain all weekend. He also set up Greizmann’s opener.
Atletico have quality all over. Defender Lucas Hernandez, 20, slotted in for the injured Diego Godin at Valencia and was their best player. He wasn't the best player on for pitch, that honour must go to Valencia goalkeeper Diego Alves who saved two penalties from Griezmann and Gabi. Alves has saved 19 of the 37 penalties he has faced in the Primera Liga and not for nothing did his caretaker manager Voro say: "He has a gift".
Substitute Yannick Carrasco was also superb after replacing Saul Niguez. Simeone has more options, both with players and the tactics he uses. He has phenomenal depth in his squad and now oversees a club that doesn’t need to sell its best players.
Atletico are league leaders for the first time since January. It will be hard to stay there and they are not close to being favourites to lift the title as they did in 2014, but they have started this season better than any team in Spain, domestically as well as in European competition.
Rotation key but costly for Barcelona and Real Madrid
Rare is the weekend when both Real Madrid and Barcelona fail to win, but many of the teams who had played European football last week laboured in the Primera Liga.
Madrid may have been carrying injuries, but they were lacklustre at home to tiny Eibar. Madrid have now gone four matches without a win, but they are still undefeated this season and sit on the same number of points as leaders Atletico Madrid.
Barcelona have lost two of their opening seven league games. On Sunday, they conceded three goals in the first half of a game for the first time since 2007/08 in Frank Rijkaard’s unhappy final season.
Like Madrid, they have made continual significant rotations with mixed success. With the game at the weekend their seventh in 22 days before the two week international break, they had to switch personnel, but manager Luis Enrique has also made striking tactical changes well away from their traditional 4-3-3 formation.
Though some players like Yaya Toure settled magnificently into Barca’s system, it’s hard for incoming players to quickly adjust, more so when the tactics are shifting and Enrique tries to evolve his side. Andre Gomes is a hugely gifted midfielder but struggled against Celta, as did Sergio Busquets who has been less than his usual peerless self this season.
Enrique took full responsibility. “It wasn’t our best night,” he said. “The most culpable person is me. Criticising after the game is easy. I’m the one who has to decide before.”
Barca’s defence have conceded 10 goals in seven matches, including the four at Celta. Teams are changing the way they play against the Catalans. Rather than accept that they are going to lose, they will take more chances and press high. That was clear from Real Betis at home in the first game of the season.
Leganes tried the same but got destroyed by Barca’s brilliant front three. That’s the risk.
Barca's defence was rightly criticised. Goalkeeper Marc Andre Ter Stegen, now the undisputed No 1 after Claudio Bravo moved to Manchester City on a far more lucrative contract, was at fault and apologised after, but as his manager said: "When you're Barcelona's goalkeeper you take risks."
Jeremy Mathieu was woeful again, but while Barca’s defeat was highlighted, credit is due to Celta and their attack-minded manager Toto Berizzo who has now defeated Enrique three times, more than anyone else.
Celta started this season surprisingly poorly, but continue to push up the table. A European place is realistic for a squad with so many talented players, but when did Celta first start to become so attack minded and entertaining? When Enrique was the manager in 2013/14.
Player of the week – Iago Aspas
A Celta Vigo legend who had an ill-fated move to England with Liverpool, is thriving back home where he is loved and has always lived. Aspas, 29, scored Celta’s best goal in their 4-3 win against Barcelona and troubled the Catalan defence throughout the night alongside Pablo Hernandez. Liverpool didn’t see the best of Aspas. Celta regularly do.
Game of the week
After seven games in 22 games for Spain’s biggest clubs, every Primera Liga side has a two-week break for international football. Spain travel to Italy for a 2018 World Cup qualifier on Thursday before another qualifier at home to Albania. The second division will continue, where second placed Lugo are at fourth placed Mirandes – the only unbeaten teams in the league - is the pick.
What else?
• Sevilla were at home, where naturally they won. They may have changed managers, but their outstanding home but poor away form continues. Sevilla are third, with 12 of their 14 points coming from games at the Sanchez Pizjuan where they have a 100 per cent record.
• Paco Jemez was sacked by Granada’s new owners after just six games, with his side winless and bottom of the league. He wasn’t the only managerial casualty last week as Cesare Prandelli was appointed at Valencia. The experienced Italian, 59 excelled so much at Fiorentina in five years from 2005 that he got the Italy job. He was less successful in his most recent appointment at Galatasaray. He also doesn’t speak Spanish, which was the main reason Gary Neville attributed to his struggles at Mestalla. The one positive is that Valencia have some excellent players for him to work with.
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