beIN SPORTS

By Andreas Vou (@AndreasVou89)

When Real Madrid’s hit three past Atletico Madrid in extra-time to claim their tenth Champions League title two years ago, many saw it as the end of the fairytale for Los Rojiblancos.

In a game that they were leading for over 55 minutes, losing out to their bitter rivals, and in the way they did, made it hard for anybody to envisage a swift return to the upper echelons of the European game.

A club that is forced, due to heavy debts, to sell a host of its star players, year upon year, is constantly unable to build on the squad of the previous campaign. Rather, Diego Simeone has been obliged to integrate a handful of new faces to the core of the group that had been lingering in mid-table when he first took over back in 2011.

Even in La Liga, it seems as though everybody is just waiting for that moment for Atletico to crumble. Surely this is just a modest team over-performing? After a league title win, a Europa League, a Copa del Rey, and Champions League runners up medal, you would expect their name to be firmly placed among the best in the business. But it is not the case.

Nevertheless, Simeone would not want anybody to think differently. 

Two years after the pain of Lisbon, Atletico are back in the grand final, stronger than ever, and against the same side who deprived them of glory last time around.

This ‘underdog’ tag that Atletico holds is exactly what the Argentine boss wants them to be perceived as while they quietly go about their business.

Make no mistake about it; Atletico go into the game as top dog, rather than undergog. The once ‘unworthy rival’ well and truly have Madrid’s number in recent time. After going 13 years without a league win against their arch-nemesis, Atletico defeated Real on their own patch for their third straight season in La Liga earlier this campaign.

Add that to the fact they knocked out the Champions League favorites, FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich, to reach the final makes it hard to see how they cannot themselves be seen as the likeliest side to lift the trophy on May 28. 

In 2014, while Simeone was running onto the field to confront Raphael Varane about his provocative actions, then-assistant manager Zinedine Zidane was sprinting down the touchline to celebrate with his players.

For the Frenchman, in his rookie year as manager of a top flight side, things have gone far better than predicted. From trailing Barça by 12 points to finishing the league on the same tally in second place, largely thanks to a Clasico win at the Camp Nou, along with a spot in the Champions League final, there is not much more that the Frenchman could have done.

But as we all know, things do not always function so rationally upstairs at Real Madrid. Rumors are already circulating that replacements are in line for Zizou should he not claim the club’s eleventh European Cup, and Florentino Perez’s actions in recent years would make this far from unsurprising, despite being completely unjustified.

While Atletico have impressed in the last two rounds, the same cannot be said of Los Blancos who, without suggesting that it is easy for any side to do so, have stumbled into the final with a kind draw. AS Roma, Wolfsburg and Manchester City were hardly the most daunting possible opponents yet none were respectively knocked out in convincing fashion, leaving plenty of doubt about how they would have fared against Europe’s elite.

That chance comes on Saturday, against a side who have gone from their irrelevant neighbors to their playground bully in recent years, though the final of 2014 means that the psychological battle is very much in the balance.

Though he puts on a good act, do not be fooled by the underdog tag that Simeone likes to play along with. Atletico are the favorites for the title this time, but while the Argentine is fighting for the glory his side merits, Zidane is fighting to remain at the helm of Real Madrid for the long-term.