Thanks Atlético Madrid! Thank you Diego Simeone! You wonderful band of merry footballers have done us all a favor, saving the La Liga title race with your brilliant performance on Saturday. We owe you a great debt, because the race to the finish line in Spain will be all the better for your efforts.
Atlético’s win over Real Madrid reignited the title race in La Liga
Madridistas won’t be thrilled, but the rest of us can rejoice.
Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images
Before Real and Atlético kicked off on Saturday, the title race was on the verge of taking a nosedive off the cliff of general disinterest. Had Los Blancos managed to defeat Atléti, they would've put their city rivals ten points back, and effectively ended the Colchoneros hopes of retaining their title. It also would've left Barcelona four points back, a gap that wouldn't have been insurmountable, but would've left the Catalans with no margin for error.
Instead, Atléti eviscerated Real Madrid 4-0, tossing a super happy fun grenade into the middle of the title race. Fear not, this isn’t a dangerous grenade, there’s enough violence in the world. This grenade harms no one. Instead, it fills neutrals with joy because three teams still could win La Liga.
Don’t mind the glitter. That’s a side effect of a super happy fun grenade.
Thanks to the top heavy nature of the league, La Liga often gets battered and bruised in the court of public opinion.. Barcelona and Real Madrid's stranglehold on both the league's economics, and its standings, has made it easy for the media to question the long-term health of the league, and made it simple for fans to justify not paying attention to Spain's top flight.
Atléti’s title triumph last season was a much-needed breath of fresh air that swept away some of the bad feelings, giving La Liga a rather pleasant new car smell. Of course, the big question heading into the 2014-15 campaign was whether or not Simeone’s side could maintain their threat.
While Atléti struggled early on, they've managed to fight back, remaining within striking distance of the leaders. For a few months Sevilla and Valencia were even involved. Finally, La Liga looked like it might have a chance of becoming a consistently fun league. But then Real Madrid went on a ridiculous winning streak, while Barca and Atléti stumbled, allowing Los Blancos to open up a reasonable margin.
Then Saturday happened. Real's stumble puts them at 54 points, while Barcelona's 5-2 hammering of Athletic Bilbao moves them to within a point of the top. And after losing just one of their last seven matches, Atléti are within reach of first, sitting on 50 points.
16 matches remain, and those 48 points could fall anywhere, really. Barcelona still have to play both Real and Atlético Madrid once more in the league, and they don’t face Los Colchoneros until the penultimate match. The Clásico falls on March 22nd, and could well end up being pivotal to the title race. Plus, all three sides have at least two Champions League matches remaining (pluse Barcelona have the Copa del Rey) so exhaustion could end up being a factor.
With Real Madrid resembling a triage unit more than a football team at the moment, what once seemed like an inevitable title victory for Los Blancos is now anything but. Meanwhile, Barcelona are playing fantastic football, having appeared to finally have their tactics under figured out under Luis Enrique. Luis Suárez continues to settle in, while Neymar is threatening to surpass Lionel Messi. The Barca defense remains suspect, but they’ve been getting the job done recently, which is all that matters. And is anyone really willing to place their bets against Diego Simeone? It may be that the title is Atléti’s to lose.
Who knows -- by the time the glitter settles, one of the three sides could’ve pulled away once more. But for now, La Liga is all sparkly and shiny, giving us plenty of reason to celebrate. Thanks, Atlético, for launching this super happy fun grenade. Let’s toss a few more in the air.
We’ve got a title race in La Liga!
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