Atlético Madrid's Determined Chase for Third Place

Diego Simeone does not hand out compliments lightly. So when the Atlético Madrid coach looks at a Barcelona side that has just torn La Liga away from the rest and calls them “the team that plays the best in the world,” it lands with weight.

Hansi Flick’s Barça clinched the title in the most satisfying way possible for their supporters: a 2–0 win over Real Madrid at a roaring Spotify Camp Nou, stretching the gap to 14 points over Álvaro Arbeloa’s team with only three games left. A coronation, not a contest.

And yet, as Simeone watched that Clásico, his mind drifted somewhere else.

“We knocked this team out twice, my God.”

That thought, he admitted, kept looping in his head. Because while Barcelona have ruled the league, Atlético have been the side to bloody their nose when it mattered most.

Kings of the knockouts

La Liga has belonged to Flick’s Barcelona this season. The cups told a different story.

Atlético first cut them down in the Copa del Rey, edging a wild semi-final over two legs with a 4–3 aggregate win. High stakes, tight margins, exactly the kind of stage where Simeone’s teams tend to bare their teeth.

Then came Europe. In the Champions League quarter-finals, Atleti did it again, sending Barça out with a 3–2 aggregate victory. Two knockout ties, two Atlético triumphs. Against a team their coach now openly calls the best in the world.

So when Simeone praises Barcelona, he does it with genuine admiration – and with a quiet, unmistakable pride in his own players.

Barcelona, though, have had the final word in the league. They won both La Liga meetings between the sides this season, a reminder that over 38 games, Flick’s machine has simply been stronger. Simeone knows that. He just refuses to let it define Atlético’s year.

Pride, scars and a demanding run-in

For all the big-game scalps, Atlético’s season has frayed at the edges.

After knocking Barça out of the Copa del Rey, they stumbled at the last hurdle, losing the final to Real Sociedad. Their Champions League heroics against the Catalans gave way to a semi-final exit to Arsenal. From glory to frustration in the space of a few weeks.

Now, in the league, they sit fourth, six points behind Villarreal with three matches to go. The equation is simple but unforgiving: they need a perfect finish and a slip from the side above them to have any chance of snatching third.

“Everything is real; there’s a slim chance in these last three matches that we can go to Villarreal with a chance to secure third place,” Simeone said. Slim, but not imaginary. Not to him, and certainly not to a dressing room that has built its identity on chasing lost causes.

The run-in is clear: Osasuna away on Tuesday, Girona at home, Villarreal away to close the campaign. Three games, a small window, and a manager who refuses to accept the idea that there is “nothing to play for”.

“It’s like when you play with your friends, you want to win; that’s the stimulus this sport gives you,” he said. “Even if you play at an amateur level, you play to win and have fun.”

For Simeone, that is non-negotiable. Whether it’s a Champions League quarter-final or a late-season trip to El Sadar, the demand remains the same.

Giménez scare eases, kids on the rise

There was at least one clear piece of good news before the Osasuna match.

José María Giménez, who picked up a knock against Celta Vigo, has escaped serious injury. The diagnosis is a sprained ankle, not something far worse, easing nerves in both Madrid and Montevideo ahead of the summer.

“Luckily it is only a sprained ankle, and we hope he can arrive with strength at the World Cup to compete with Uruguay as he deserves,” Simeone confirmed.

With Giménez’s longer-term fitness less of a concern, Simeone also hinted at a different kind of opportunity on the horizon: minutes for Atlético’s homegrown talent.

“We will look as always to make the best possible team,” he said, before nodding towards the club’s academy. He expects youngsters to feature at Osasuna, to “take advantage of the beautiful occasion of playing with the first team.”

It fits the stage of the season. The table is almost set, the margins for major movement small, but the stakes for individuals remain enormous. For veterans chasing one more push up the standings. For kids trying to prove they belong.

Simeone has spent the week talking up Barcelona’s brilliance, reminding everyone just how high the bar is right now in Spain. But his real message sits between the lines: this Atlético side, for all its flaws and missed chances, has gone toe-to-toe with that level and won when it mattered.

The league table will not show that nuance. The players don’t need it to. They only need three more games, one more chase, and the same old question hanging over them: when the season closes in Villarreal, will they have turned that “slim chance” into something concrete, or be left wondering how far those knockout nights could really have carried them?