Atletico Madrid slide

Atletico are being forgotten in cup competitions.

But after just 90 minutes of the opening match - a 0-4 defeat to PSG - all those ambitions were shattered like soap bubbles. Not because of a lack of fighting spirit, but because the gap in class - especially financial class - was becoming increasingly unbridgeable.

Coach Diego Simeone said bluntly in the post-match press conference: "Luis Enrique said he needed a player, PSG immediately spent 70 million euros to bring him in January." A statement that is both bitter and realistic. While PSG acts like a "big guy who doesn't care about the price", Atletico still manages each contract, each budget, with a salary fund and spending capacity that has been tightened for many years.

Data from Transfermarkt shows a hard-to-swallow truth: PSG's squad is worth up to 1.06 billion euros. Meanwhile, Atletico only reached 508.5 million euros, ranked... behind Brighton (555 million) and Sporting CP (511 million). They ranked 18th in the list of the most expensive clubs in the world , too far from the top group with Real Madrid (1.33 billion), Man City (1.32 billion), Arsenal (1.09 billion), or Barcelona (1.07 billion).

It’s not just about money. It’s about attraction, about direction, about the ability to retain or attract stars. A team that played three Champions League finals in just a decade is now falling behind, both on the pitch and in the transfer market.

Simeone’s squad has lost €22 million in value in less than a year. The reason is easy to understand: key players like Griezmann, Koke, Llorente and De Paul are all on the other side of their careers. They are still experienced players, but their market value – which is determined by age and future potential – is no longer high.

Atletico is no longer considered a "big guy".

The most valuable player at the moment is Julian Alvarez, worth 100 million euros - twice as much as the next most expensive player in the team. But one star, however brilliant, cannot pull a system downhill back up.

Not only Transfermarkt , bookmakers also gave frank assessments. After the crushing defeat against PSG, Atletico dropped to 7th place in the list of candidates to win the Club World Cup, with odds of 21.0 - too far behind PSG (3.5), Real Madrid and Man City (5.5), or even Chelsea (10.0) and Inter Milan (19.0). At the end of the group stage, they also stopped - despite earning 6 points.

That shows that the expectations for the Madrid team are no longer in the top group. It is no longer the team that "can cause surprises" like in the 2013-2017 period, but is gradually becoming a forgotten name in the race for continental titles.

The Club World Cup is a mirror reflecting the strength of football, the top clubs. And in that mirror, Atletico Madrid appears not as a championship candidate, but as someone nostalgic for the past, trying to cling to the halo with an old squad, in a football world that has changed too quickly and too far.

Source: https://znews.vn/atletico-madrid-truot-dai-post1563570.html