Lose Champions League playoff and Simeone's Atlético reign could be over

Madrid – When Atlético Madrid step onto the Jan Breydelstadion pitch on Wednesday for the first leg of their Champions League playoff against Club Brugge, they will not only be flirting with elimination from the competition. According to multiple sources inside and around the club, they could also be playing for the future of the most successful coach in their history, Diego Simeone.

The Argentine’s position, once considered bullet-proof after more than a decade in charge, has deteriorated at break-neck speed. Atlético have taken two wins from their last six LaLiga fixtures, failed to score in the last three, and now trail leaders Real Madrid by 15 points. Their European form has been equally alarming: a win over Bodø/Glimt would have secured a top-eight group finish, an €18.2 million bonus and a direct ticket to the last 16, but Simeone’s side collapsed 2-1 at the Metropolitano and ultimately collected one point from the final two match-days.

That Norwegian setback has condemned Atlético to a two-legged shoot-out with Brugge, and failure to progress, senior club voices say, could trigger the end of the Simeone era. The 65-year-old coach is already at odds with the recruitment department after four senior players left in January without a single replacement arriving, and the club’s new sporting structure, headed by Mateu Alemany, is known to be sounding out alternatives. Villarreal’s Marcelino and club legend Fernando Torres, currently coaching Atlético’s B-team, have both been floated as potential successors.

The sense of drift is reinforced by wild swings in form. A 5-0 Copa del Rey destruction of Real Betis and a 4-0 semi-final first-leg rout of Barcelona offered brief euphoria, yet both displays were followed by league defeats to the same opponents. The nadir arrived last weekend when relegation-threatened Rayo Vallecano inflicted Atlético’s heaviest loss to them since 1981, prompting captain Jan Oblak to deliver a scathing televised assessment. “We’ve tossed any chances of winning the league away,” the goalkeeper said. “You can’t pick and choose matches in which to perform.”

Simeone publicly rebuked his keeper, insisting “we played poorly and the rival was superior,” but the exchange highlighted a fracture inside the dressing room and underlined the perception that standards have slipped. Only twice in the past decade have Atlético been statistically worse after 24 league rounds – in 2020, when COVID-19 disrupted the campaign, and in 2022, when Simeone himself admitted he considered resigning. On that occasion the board readied his exit before a dramatic upturn in results bought him time.

Time, however, is now in short supply. Apollo Sports Capital’s impending takeover has brought American investors focused on balance-sheet certainty, and Champions League progression is baked into the club’s financial model. Last season a run to the last 16 generated €85 million; elimination at this stage would leave a significant hole and, crucially, signal that the team’s competitive edge has dulled beyond repair.

Simeone, whose contract runs until 2027, has survived previous crises by “Houdini-style” revivals, but sources say another stumble in Bruges would be judged differently. The squad’s erratic performances, the public spat with Oblak, and the absence of new blood have combined to erode the patience of both ownership and fan-base. A playoff exit, one board member admitted, “would force us to act.”

For a coach who once turned Atlético into Europe’s most feared defensive machine and delivered a LaLiga title plus two Champions League finals, the stakes could scarcely be higher: beat Brugge over 180 minutes and silverware remains a possibility; fall short, and the most storied managerial reign in Spanish club football may be brought to an abrupt, unceremonious close.

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