Atletico - Simeone: The final limit has been reached!

(Baonghean.vn) - With Ronaldo scoring a hat-trick against goalkeeper Oblak, Atletico was almost eliminated from the Champions League semi-finals. This defeat also confirmed one thing, Atletico - Simeone has reached its final limit.

Before the Argentine strategist arrived at the Vicente Calderon as coach, Atletico was nothing compared to most of the teams in La Liga, not to mention the two giants, Real and Barcelona.

Occupying a spot in the TOP 4 is also a terribly difficult task for the red-white striped team, let alone competing fairly for the championship in the Champions League, La Liga and King's Cup. The history and strength of the Vicente Calderon stadium are too small when placed next to the holy land of Camp Nou and Bernabeu.

Ronaldo's (white shirt) header opened the scoring against goalkeeper Oblak. Photo: Internet.

On December 23, 2011, Simeone took the hot seat at the Vicente Calderon. Under the guidance of El Cholo (Simeone's nickname), Atletico steadily improved over time and quickly approached the level of a big team.

The first achievement was the Europa League championship after 5 months of taking over Atletico, followed by the European Super Cup title with a convincing victory over the reigning Champions League champion, Chelsea in August 2012. In the domestic arena in the 2012/2013 season, Atletico finished 3rd in La Liga and defeated rival Real in the King's Cup final with a score of 2-1 right at the Bernabeu stadium.

Entering the 2013-2014 season, coach Simeone and his team continued to progress. Surpassing Real and Barcelona in the race for the La Liga title, Atletico won their first championship title after nearly 20 years in the most important tournament of the 'land of bullfighting'.

Another admirable achievement of the Vicente Calderon team was their passage to the Champions League final against Real. If not for defender Ramos's header in the final minutes of the match, Atletico would have lifted the prestigious trophy (Real then won in extra time).

Last season, Atletico also reached the final match of the Champions League and lost to Real in the penalty shootout. That defeat was so painful that coach Simeone almost said goodbye to the red-white striped team right in the press conference room after the final match at San Siro (Milan).

After rumors of a series of invitations from European football giants (Inter Milan is the most active), Coach Simeone decided to stay to fight alongside his students to conquer titles this season.

However, up to now, Atletico's performance has not improved, if not worse than in recent years. In the King's Cup, Atletico was knocked out by Barcelona quite early. In La Liga, the chance of winning the championship is only 0.0001%. And in the Champions League, the hope is not much better than in La Liga.

The comprehensive defeat at the Bernabeu showed that Atletico - Simeone has reached the final limit. It is not in recent years that the Argentine strategist has 'rested on his laurels' and refused to find solutions to develop the team.

On the contrary, coach Simeone continuously rushed into the transfer market to bring in stars to strengthen Atletico's squad.

In the summer of 2016 alone, Vicente Calderon welcomed quality signings, such as Gaitan, Gameiro, Vrsaljko... with a total amount of about 81 million euros.

If Atletico cannot successfully reverse the situation in the second leg against Real, Simeone will likely part ways with Vicente Calderon. Photo: Internet.

In terms of expertise, the coach himself, born in 1970, has also constantly researched and innovated to help the Vicente Calderon team's playing style become more diverse and difficult to predict than before. But all is still just disappointment. Apart from the matches that caused difficulties for opponents Bayern Munich, Barcelona..., Atletico could not do much against their rival Real in the most recent confrontation.

The more they play against the team led by Zinedine Zidane, the more coach Simeone and his team show their inferiority. And the 0-3 loss in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final is concrete proof.

Everything has its limits, both Atletico and Simeone must understand and realize that after past failures. It is time for coach Simeone to stop and look for new challenges. There is a saying "Three times is the charm", meaning that if something fails for the third time and does not bring results, it should be stopped. Remember that, Atletico - Simeone.

Thanh Hung