With attention focused on Barcelona's brilliance, Real Madrid's roller-coaster ride and Valencia's managers, Atletico Madrid have been quietly winning every week and looking more like the side that won the title in 2013/14 – defensively strong, mentally impenetrable counter-attack specialists.
Having won six and drawn two since September's 1-0 defeat at Villarreal, they are up to second in the Primera Liga, two points ahead of Real Madrid and two behind Barca.
The recent scorelines are similar to those that won Atleti the league: 1-0, 1-0, 1-0 and 2-0 in their past four games.
In Europe, Atleti have won three and drawn once since losing their second game in the Uefa Champions League Group C and have gone on to top the group.
They also kept a clean sheet in four of their six group games.
Coach Diego Simeone recently celebrated his 150th game in charge of the club and tweeted: “Proud to complete 150 games as trainer of our Atleti. Thanks players, club, support.”
An Atletico legend as a player and manager, he is now into his fifth year at the helm.
When he took over in December 2011, Atletico were 10th in the table, four points above the relegation zone and eliminated from the cup by lowly Albacete.
The Argentine has revolutionised the club.
Read more Primera Liga news:
Four-goal Cristiano Ronaldo reaffirms ‘I am happy’ at Real Madrid
Gary Neville takes Valencia helm with a goal of a good European first impression
Before his appointment, Champions League football was a rarity. Now, Atletico are expected to reach the latter stages of the competition.
They are already eight points clear of Villarreal in fifth.
Another top-four finish will mean a fifth successive season in the Champions League which had evaded Atleti for so long.
They are financially strong, they shocked football by winning the league in 2014 and they have retained consistency by keeping the same manager, board, and being adept in the transfer market.
They spend big and sell even bigger each summer as richer clubs pick off their premium talents.
Atletico went for the best emerging, but already established, talents. Luciano Vietto from Villarreal for €20 million (Dh80.4m); Jackson Martinez from Porto for €37m; Yannick Cassaco came from Monaco for €15m.
In total, Atletico spent €126m in the summer and recouped €120m by selling players such as Arda Turan and Mario Mandzukic.
Mandzukic, the Croatia striker never fulfilled expectations in Madrid, though he was following in the footsteps of the prolific Diego Costa and Radamel Falcao.
Atletico sold both for substantial profits, seemingly at the right time given their subsequent experiences.
Atletico are at the transfer top table and their squad is formidable, though they cannot buy the very highest rated players.
On Tuesday, Atletico finished top of their Champions League group by beating Benfica 2-1 away with goals from Vietto and Saul Niguez, one of many youth graduates from Atletico’s cantera.
They are well placed in league and Copa del Rey, yet Simeone has been criticised by his own more than ever before this season.
After draws with Astana and Deportivo La Coruna last month, critics suggested that their football was not creative enough, that it was boring, a bit Louis van Gaal but without all the possession. Simeone responded by suggesting that Atletico’s identity had not changed.
“There are lots of ways of playing well,” he said. “Some choose to have a lot of the ball, others choose to play well on the counter. Historically, this is what Atletico is.
“Don’t confuse the fans. This is Atletico: effort, contagiousness, counter-attacks, and competitiveness. That’s the way success has always come and we’ll continue that way, no matter what they say.”
However, they lack a goalscorer as prolific as their former frontmen Diego Forlan, Sergio Aguero, Falcao and Costa.
Martinez and Vietto have only managed three, Fernando Torres and Angel Corea two a piece. As with last season, their leading scorer is Antoine Greizman, who has 11 so far.
But, that is the only overriding issue at present.
Slowly but surely, Atletico are looking like their formidable selves again.
Andy Mitten comment: Real Madrid preparing to right the ship
Real Madrid do not do normal. The club are perennially enveloped in the ridiculous and the sublime.
Football's richest club, still reeling from a 4-0 clasico hammering in the Bernabeu at the hands of Barcelona last month, fielded an ineligible player last week in the Copa del Rey at Cadiz. On Tuesday, they scored eight in an Uefa Champions League home match against Malmo.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who has struggled for form and goals but managed five in one match at Espanyol, looked more like his old self against the Swedes.
They looked star struck and there was little pressure on Madrid for they had already qualified as group winners, but, to the dismay of their superb support, Malmo provided shooting practice in a competitive match.
Ronaldo missed three first-half chances before finding the net in the 38th minute, a free kick, to ease the worries that he is more profligate than effective from set pieces. It only was Ronaldo’s third goal from his previous 97 free-kick attempts.
To the delight of his under pressure manager Rafa Benitez, the Portuguese forward also scored in the 47th, 50th and 58th minutes.
Four goals in 22 minutes made him the first Madrid player to score four in a Champions League match and the first in the European Cup since Ferenc Puskas against Feyenoord in 1965.
He also ensured that he broke the Champions League record of 11 goals in the group stage. It is the fifth Champions League in succession in which Ronaldo has hit double figures.
Ronaldo needed the boost. He will be judged in bigger games, but he has not been himself this season and he was even jeered by some of his own fans during Madrid’s clasico defeat.
Injury and personal issues have not helped, but Ronaldo’s confidence in himself, who he refers to in the third person, remains unabashed.
“I don’t seek out records, records seek me out,” he said with a veneer of the self-assured arrogance which makes him the player he is.
The 30-year-old Portuguese has been linked with moves to Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United, but sources close to the player maintain he wants to stay at Real Madrid.
His team have won all five games since the clasico.
The wounds from that defeat will take time to heal, and Barca are unquestionably the better side at the moment, but it is worth remembering that a year ago, the same was said of Real Madrid just before they were crowned Fifa club world champions.
They would go downhill from the start of 2015 as Barca recovered their form.
Madrid hope for the reverse this time around.
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on twitter at @NatSportUAE
