A stern-faced Fernando Torres walked past the media following Atletico Madrid’s anaemic 0-0 draw at Espanyol on Saturday and showed no inclination to even refuse to acknowledge journalists who asked for a quote.
Torres did not consider them worthy of a “no” as he got on the team bus, but the striker’s disappointment was perhaps understandable for he had been substituted at half time after his teammate Joao Miranda was sent off for elbowing a rival.
Torres drew a fine save from Kiko Casilla early in the game, but a third successive league draw sees Atletico fading from the race for the Primera Liga title.
Hopes that they could retain their crown rose after a glorious 4-0 win over Real Madrid last month, but Diego Simeone’s side have won just one league game since.
Four points off the top in mid-January, Atletico have won just five of their last 14 matches in all competitions.
After picking up just six points in their last five league games – the same as Levante in 17th – Atletico are now eight points behind Real Madrid in second and nine off leaders Barcelona. Atletico are now fourth, behind Valencia.
A lack of goals is a problem. Antoine Griezmann and Mario Mandzukic have stopped scoring, the Frenchman not having struck for 282 minutes and the Croatian for 181.
Coach Simeone remains defiant and maintains that his side still have the league and Uefa Champions League – where they must overturn a 1-0 deficit to Bayer Leverkusen tonight if they are to reach the quarter-finals – to play for.
Simeone has called for the Vicente Calderon to become a fortress once more for tonight’s game against the German club.
The stadium has been one of Europe’s most impregnable since the Argentine took charge in December 2011, and while fans will heed his words, his players look shorn of the indomitable spirit of a year ago.
Atletico have already lost more league games than in the whole of last season. With only 11 to play, another title appears beyond them, but success for Atletico used to be a top-four finish – something they failed to achieve in all but two seasons between winning the league in 1996 and Simeone’s first full season in 2012/13.
Tonight’s last-16, second-leg match is vital. The in-form Germans arrive in Madrid on the back of five straight wins and as many clean sheets in all competitions. Hakan Calhanoglu’s goal settled an ill-tempered first leg.
That encounter saw eight yellow cards and one red, meaning Bayer will face an Atletico side without the suspended Diego Godin and Tiago Mendes, plus the injured Saul and Guilherme Siqueira. Koke, their best midfielder and creative force, is back from injury after missing the first leg.
Roger Schmidt’s Leverkusen may have reached the 2002 final but have never won a last-16 away tie in seven attempts. A draw would send them through to the last eight and they were good enough to beat Copenhagen, Zenit and draw with Benfica on their travels this season.
Yet Atletico won all three of their group games at home and have won 11 and drawn one of their 13 home league games. They have also won 20 of their last 22 European home matches. No visiting player has even scored at the Calderon in European football since Kaka for AC Milan over a year ago.
It was always going to be hard for Atletico to repeat last season’s achievements, but they need to recover their verve before a season which promised so much peters out to a premature end.
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