Barcelona or Madrid?

You probably already know who your pick is!

That’s because this question has been asked for decades. When we think of Spanish football we think of them, from their players, achievements, kits, badges, academies and so on, and ultimately we all have a favourite of the two.

The two Spanish giants have dominated Spanish football for decades and stand alone at the top. 

So then what’s the problem for Atletico Madrid, well simply this Madrid we refer to is not Atletico, it is Real Madrid, and this sums up what the problem has been for Atletico; they have been an afterthought in Spain, even though they are clearly the third team in Spanish football and a threat in European football and have been for a while. Winning 11 LaLiga titles, the Copa del Rey 10 times, winners of the Europa league 3 times, and runners up in the Champions league three times. 

They have cemented themselves as a legendary club in world football, but even with these achievements it does not match up to the resumes of Barcelona or Real Madrid, and this has led to players and fans alike to see Atletico as a less desirable club, and can you blame them Barcelona have Five champions league titles and Real Madrid has Fifteen, Barcelona have Twenty-Nine LaLiga titles and Real Madrid have Thirty-Six. The difference between their achievements,and Atletico’s is staggering, and has created a large gap between the two clubs and Atletico in the eyes of football fans everywhere.  

Atletico remain an outsider in Spain and Europe, they have enough achievements and prestige, to separate them from smaller teams but their achievements and prestige do not hold a candle to that of the bigger clubs. They are stuck on a level of their own, with no reason to go down to a lower one, and currently no way to reach a higher one. 

How does Atletico change this? The simple answer: they would have to do what seems for now impossible, they would have to become for a period of time the biggest threat in Spain, for example: they would have to compete at a high level for at least a decade where they win more LaLiga titles than Barcelona or Real Madrid, win the champions league at least once, and constantly beat both Barcelona and Real Madrid head to head. Now this may seem like a fantasy, but it has been done. One team full of history, success and prestige, like that of Atletico, became more, it didn’t just become one of the biggest clubs in its league, for a while it became the biggest, that team is Man City.  

This brings us back to Julian Alvarez, a player they signed from that very same club. Who’s  recently failed departure to Barcelona has drawn our attention back to Atletico’s biggest problem. Atletico manager Simone knows the importance of having players of Alverez’s calibre at the club calling him “an extraordinary player, the best we’ve had at Atlético since he arrived” and that “He is the player we, as a club and as a team, envision as someone to build our play around,” Simeone told ESPN Argentina.To make a definitive statement like  this shows Simeone knows if they are to challenge the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid, they need players of Alverez’s quality. To do that you need to have not just one great player but a squad full of great players, but with their current best player wanting out, what message does it send to other players, what does it say to the next best Atletico player. This brings us to the root of Atletico’s biggest problem: their best players, like Alvarez, don’t see Atletico as a club to stay at, to spend the primes of their careers. They see it as a stepping stone, and they have for years. 

The club has had its fair share of big names who have left for other big clubs: firstly in 2007 premier league legend Fernando Torres left them for Liverpool, next in 2011 Premier league highest foreign goal scorer Sergio Aguero and then in 2019 future Ballon d’or winner Rodri both went to Man City, surprisingly also in 2019 Antoine Griezmann left for Barcelona who now have their eyes in 2026 on Julian Alvarez. 

Losing their best players just as they are about to enter their primes, is a constant problem. These are all players like Alvarez who they could have built around, who all went to another big club. This is a common occurrence, at the highest level of football between big clubs, they steal a great player for one club and that club does it to another and so on, but when this happens to Atletico they don’t replace the players they sell with another great player from a big club in the prime of their career instead they sign players from big clubs who are past their primes.

  • In 2013 – Signed ex Barcelona Champions league winner David Villa who then left in 2014 to play in the MLS with New York City FC. 
  • In 2018 – Completed the signing of Diego Costa from Chelsea who had left Atletico in 2014 for the London based club, who then left in 2021 to join Brazilian based club Atletico Mineiro. 
  • In 2019 – took on loan, Chelsea  and ex Real Madrid player Morata before permanently signing him in 2020, then loaning him out to Juventus in 2020 until 2022 and then selling him to ac milan in 2024. 
  • Most memorably in 2020 they signed ex Liverpool and Barcelona star Suarez who left in 2022 to go and play for his first senior club Nacional in his home country Uruguay. 
  • A year later in 2021 they took back returning player Antoine Griezmann on loan from Barcelona before officially signing him again in 2022 until he left in 2026 to join MLS side Orlando City. 
  • Lastly in 2023 they signed ex Barcelona player Memphis Depay who left in 2024 to join Brazilian team Corinthians, 

Now it would be silly to not mention that some of these transfers have worked out for Atletico in the short term. Suarez won the best player in LaLiga trophy in his debut season for the club in which Atletico won the Laliga title. However these numerous cases over the last decade or so, also show for many players Atletico has become a last stop in their European football career, a place where they can be the star of the show, at a high level for one last time, in a club who won’t replace them with someone else. They may achieve success but they don’t achieve change in their place as the third club in LaLiga. 

So whether like all these other players before him, Alvarez leaves Atletico some time soon, or if he decides that Atletico could be the place where he spends his peak years. The thing that really matters is how Atletico responds, if he leaves will they sign another temporary replacement or will they sign another player with the talent and skill of Julian Alvarez, but one who wants to spend his prime years at Atletico. But if Alvarez stays and decides he will be that player, the type of player who clubs build statues of, and not just be another great at a club that is used to having the best players. Then Atletico will need to find more good players with great potential to play alongside Alvarez and also convenience them to stay for many years, especially their prime playing years. 

In the end Julian Alvarez is just another example of the recurring problem Atletico faces, with its players, if Atletico are to ever be seen on equal terms as its two biggest rivals, Barcelona and Real Madriad then it needs to change how it operates, and what players it signs.

Because if Atletico doesn’t, the gap may only grow larger until it’s impossible to close. 

SOURCES

(https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/49256845/diego-simeone-julian-alvarez-central-atletico-madrid-plans-barcelona-interest)