The 2016/17 season was par for the course for Atletico. They couldn’t quite match Real Madrid or Barcelona, but they were still far better than the rest. Although they had a poor November and December and were trailing Sevilla at the beginning of 2017, Atletico finished strongly to reclaim third place as their own. They also managed to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League and the Copa del Rey, where they were beaten by Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively, even if they did give both of those sides a scare in the second legs.
Tactically, Atletico seemed to evolve this year. Diego Simeone’s side were not as defensive-minded as before and they played some exciting attacking football, often with three forwards on the field, in the shape of Antoine Griezmann, Kevin Gameiro and Yannick Carrasco. Griezmann was the star once again and showed exactly why he has been voted the world’s third best player. Gameiro was last summer’s marquee signing and he showed some promise, but also missed a lot of chances at decisive moments. Carrasco, meanwhile, had a breakout couple of months at the start of the season but, just like Gameiro, he was inconsistent. As such, this trust in attack-minded football only brought limited success and all too often Atletico relied on a moment of magic from Griezmann. Despite this shift towards more attacking play, Los Rojiblancos did still finish the year with La Liga’s best defensive record, even if their record of 27 goals conceded was worse than the one of 18 goals conceded from 2015/16. Perhaps the main takeaway from Atletico’s 2016/17 campaign, then, was the fact that they’re not at Real Madrid’s or Barcelona’s level, but that they are still so much better than the rest.
