Atletico Madrid have had a successful season as they finished second and ahead of Real Madrid for just the second time this century. On top of that, they won the Europa League title.
Their start to the campaign was made difficult by the fact that they were moving to a new stadium and by the fact that they’d had a transfer ban during the summer of 2017. For that reason, they had a slow start to the season and dropped some early points in LaLiga, while also being knocked out of the Champions League in the group stages and, thus, parachuted into the Europa League.
January signalled the end of their transfer ban and it meant that Vitolo and Diego Costa could be registered with the club and used by Diego Simeone, with the latter’s impact especially significant.
Costa formed an excellent partnership with Antoine Griezmann at the front of Atletico’s traditional 4-4-2 formation and this allowed the French striker to shine, after he’d been left isolated for much of the first half of the season.
Although they were disappointingly knocked out of the Copa del Rey in January, Atletico’s second half of the season was impressive and they kept accumulating points in the league, while simultaneously marching towards the Europa League final, which they won in May’s final by a 3-0 scoreline against Marseille.
Atletico once again had the best defensive record in LaLiga, with just 22 conceded, but they’ll know this was as much because of goalkeeper Jan Oblak as it was down to the back four.
Their summer goal must be to improve the squad depth, if not the starting XI, while they’ll also hope to keep Griezmann, even if he is once again linked with a move away.
