The obituaries were drafted and the sentences prepared, but the events that followed told a different story. Atleti flirted with disaster during the holiday period, soundly tested by a harsh winter that chilled the team to the bone. The stadium’s corner felt desolate; morale dipped as belief waned and broadcasts shifted into silence. A sense of civil war gnawed at the dressing room, a frigid atmosphere that matched the temperatures outside. With Europe’s setback weighing heavy and the fear of missing the top four hanging over them, only a stubborn minority kept faith that a turnaround was possible in a season already viewed as slipping away. The plan to relieve Diego Pablo Simeone appeared imminent. Obituaries were ready in the media world, and the loudest voices proclaimed that the project had run its course, that Cholo’s message no longer reached the fans. The scent of decay clung to the air, a forensic whiff of a club supposedly losing its manual—the kitchen fridge replaced by champagne on ice, as if a victory party could come later.
Fifteen games later, Simeone remains very much alive. The critics who claimed he would die on the vine now stand surprised as Atleti climbs back toward the top. With Real Madrid crowned as league and European champions, the fight for second place looks far from trivial. Securing it would not be a triumph to boast about, yet it would signify a remarkable recovery, a testament to a season that had looked doomed but found its footing again. The question now isn’t whether the team can sneak into the Champions League slots, but how deep the recovery runs and what it reveals about the man guiding the ship. The season is not over, and nothing is guaranteed. The team must chase results game-by-game, learning the hard lesson that life in football rewards persistence more than certainty. In a classroom that never closes, finishing higher than a rival remains a hard-won measure of progress.
Whether Atleti continues at a steady pace, guarantees a Champions League berth, and finally overtakes their neighbor remains to be seen. The field will decide. What is indisputable is that the pundits who insisted Simeone’s era was finished have repeatedly misread the room. The claim that his message had failed, that Atleti had tightened around Luis Enrique, and that Simeone must pack his bags—these narratives have been proven wrong before. The chorus of skeptics has often spoken with authority and then been forced to explain away their own forecasts. They have waited nearly a decade for a fall, and time and again Atleti have refused to crumble when the spotlight sharpened. The long-running debate about the coach’s future has become a habit—one that tends to require a chorus of apologies whenever the team defies the odds and keeps moving forward.