Liga news: No character, no fight, no threat - this Atletico Madrid isn't a Diego Simeone team

Atletico Madrid’s record at the Santiago Bernabeu was reflective of something bigger. For generations, they’d been the second team in their own city, but under Diego Simeone the football landscape in Spain’s capital shifted. Atleti’s unbeaten streak in La Liga games against Real Madrid, a run which stretched all the way back to December 2012, demonstrated this.

Equally so, Real Madrid’s 1-0 win over their city rivals on Saturday suggested that the gulf Simeone bridged has started to open up again. While Karim Benzema’s second-half strike put Zinedine Zidane’s side six points clear at the top of La Liga, extending a run which has seen Los Blancos lose just once in the league this season, the defeat kept Atleti out of the top four. It’s possible that they could end the weekend as low as seventh.

Perhaps the most damning indictment of where Atletico Madrid are right now could be found in the sense of futile helplessness they played with in the second half. Much of this down to injuries, with Diego Costa, Joao Felix, Koke and Kieran Trippier all sidelined with Alvaro Morata also withdrawn in the second half with a knock, but Simeone had no way of affecting the game.

Before this season, Simeone spoke of his desire to evolve his ‘Cholismo’ ideology. While Atleti have become an elite level club over the past eight years, their inferiority complex and underdog spirit was still key to their success. With justification, Simeone reasoned that it was difficult to sustain this given the club’s recent big-bucks transfer business and the shimmering Wanda Metropolitano they now call home. Not many underdogs play in such luxurious surroundings.

The idea was that Atletico Madrid would become a more expansive, dynamic outfit, but what Atletico Madrid have adopted instead is the antithesis of ‘Cholismo.’ They are a team without personality and character, as demonstrated by the meekness of their performance against Real Madrid on Saturday.

Parallels can be drawn between the situation Atleti now find themselves in and the one Tottenham were in earlier this season. Just like Simeone, Mauricio Pochettino moulded a whole club in his own image, achieving unprecedented success by toppling the odds time and time again. But when that stopped happening Spurs faced a crossroads - could someone else take them further?

There’s no immediate suggestion that Simeone will leave Atletico Madrid before the end of the season, but both he and the capital club are at something of a crossroads. The squad at the Wanda Metropolitano no longer looks to be one in the image of the irritable, restless man in the dugout. While Simeone must have seen something of himself in the likes of Diego Godin and Juanfran, the same can’t be said of current players like Felix and Thomas Lemar.

Atletico Madrid have spent over £450 million on transfers over the past three years. Simeone has already attempted a rebuild - more than one - and so boardroom patience might be wearing thin. They might hesitate in delivering even more expensive signings to the Argentine and may have been a factor in the club’s reluctance to get a January deal done for Edinson Cavani. Contrast this to the way Zidane has methodically overhauled Real Madrid’s squad since the summer, successfully integrating Ferland Mendy, Eder Militao, Fede Valverde and Rodrygo. All are contributing, all are performing under the French boss.

Even if he were to leave this summer, Simeone’s Atleti legacy is already assured in the new stadium they play in out by Madrid’s Barajas airport and in the way they can compete at the very top level of the transfer market. But having been underdogs for so long Atletico Madrid now appear unsure of how to be anything but.