The Brazilian Diego Costa is Atletico Madrid’s biggest star and leading scorer. The Asturian David Villa is their most famous player.
Chelsea’s on-loan Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is rated as one of the best young stoppers on the planet, and Diego Simeone, the Argentine manager who is something of a cult figure, is a major factor why Atletico have surged to become one of football’s most impressive teams this season.
They sit ahead of Real Madrid, whom they beat away in the league, and were the first club to qualify for the knockout stage of the Uefa Champions League.
Atletico recruit globally and found success with players like the Colombian Radamel Falcao (now of Monaco) or Turkish international Arda Turan, but at their heart is a group of midfielders who grew up as Atletico fans and came through their system – Koke, Mario and the captain, Gabi. Atleti is in their blood and two of them once were ball boys at the Estadio Calderon.
“Having local players is good because we can transmit what the club means to new players,” Gabi said. “We can say: ‘We’re Atleti and it’s a bit different here.’ We tell them that people live their lives through our club, that we have the best fans in Spain, that we have to defend the interests of the club until death.
“Win or lose, every player should understand what it means to play for this club.”
Winning the title will be hard, but Atleti are not short of home-grown spirit.
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