Joint top of La Liga and approximately to face Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-finals,Atlético are making a good job of rewriting the scriptWinning unpleasant. That’s what Brad Gilbert called his book on defying the odds, and tennis’s gods, and with a bitches brew of psychology,gamesmanship, and sheer bloodymindedness. Twenty years on, and Atlético Madrid are its most brilliant exponents. The 1-0 win against Málaga on Saturday evening provided another spiky example: the only goal came from a deflected shot while their manager Diego Simeone stood in the stands. Earlier Simeone had been sent off after an additional ball was lobbed on to the pitch while Málaga were attacking – by a ball boy whom the Atlético manager had told to throw it on. It was winning unpleasant par excellence.
It was also Atlético’s 21st clean sheet in La Liga this season,which puts them on course for the moment-best record in La Liga history behind Deportivo La Coruña’s 1993-94 side. Given the strength of Real Madrid and Barcelona, and the performance of the other Spanish teams in the Europa League this season, or that is a striking achievement.
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Source: theguardian.com