Football journalist and author Guillem Balagué provides his expert insight on Diego Simeone and how the Argentinian is at a crossroads in his Altetico Madrid tenure.
Diego Simeone is, without question, the greatest manager in Atlético Madrid's history. Two La Liga titles. Two Europa Leagues. Two UEFA Super Cups. A Copa del Rey. A transformation of an entire club's identity, ambition, self-belief, history. By any reasonable measure, the Argentine is an institution — not just at the Metropolitano, nobody would question also in modern football’s bigger picture.
And yet, in the spring of 2026, something is clearly not working despite his Copa del Rey final, and the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League, where they will face FC Barcelona this week. The question hanging over the Riyadh Air Metropolitano, the one whispered in the stands, debated in the press, and some think that even felt in the dressing room, is whether Simeone's Atlético has simply stopped evolving. And whether the club has the will to say so out loud.
The statistics tell a damning story. Since Atlético's last Liga title in the 2020-21 season, the gap to the champions has been 15 points, then 11, then 19, then 12. This season, they went into April sitting 16 points behind Barcelona and 12 behind Real Madrid, with Simeone offering a notably resigned response of "because they're better than us" when asked about the distance.
A third-place finish has become the accepted ceiling. With a brand-new stadium — the Metropolitano is among the finest in world football — and what many consider the deepest squad in Spanish football including the two giants, repeatedly finishing third is no longer a triumph, but a disappointment dressed up as stability.
The away form alone is alarming. Atlético have accumulated just 17 points on the road — three fewer than Getafe. Four wins, five defeats, five draws. Simeone acknowledged in October that "when a team cannot find consistency away from home, there is a pattern we must improve" — but the pattern has persisted for years.
The honest assessment, increasingly shared by a growing section of the Atlético fanbase, is that Simeone has not made better the squads he has had in his hands since their last LaLiga title. You could count on one hand the players who have genuinely improved under his guidance in recent years: Pablo Barrios, Marcos Llorente, Giuliano Simeone… The system that made Atlético feared, relentlessly organised, brutally hard to break down, electrifyingly dangerous on the counter, has become easier to beat.
Opponents close deep, and Atlético struggle to unlock them. Simeone himself admitted after a frustrating goalless draw against Betis: "When rivals sit deep, we don't have the clarity to attack. This is a defect of ours as a coaching staff."
That kind of self-awareness is not new from Simeone, he has always been honest when things have not worked.
What is new is the sense that his name — and the weight of what he has built — is shielding him from accountability that any other coach would face. The new main share holders, American investment fund Apollo Sports Capital, are not content with third place and a Champions League quarter-final. They want more. And they are making that known.
The arrival of Mateu Alemany as sporting director — formerly of Mallorca and Barcelona — has created visible tension inside the club. The January transfer window exposed a fundamental disagreement. Four players left. Three arrived. The priority signing, Éderson, did not materialise. Alemany and Simeone were publicly sending contradictory messages, and the atmosphere inside the club was described as one of crossed wires and simmering friction.
One observer captured it well: "When you listen to both of them, you get the feeling that one is speaking in a tracksuit and the other in a suit." Simeone wants competition for places, immediate reinforcements, energy in training. Alemany is managing finances, thinking in cycles. Neither is wrong but it is hard to find common ground.
Apollo's vision, at least on paper, is clear and ambitious. They want to transform Atlético into a truly global brand — attracting top-tier sponsorships, reinvesting commercial revenue back into the squad, and competing consistently at the very top of European football. The Metropolitano, one of the most spectacular arenas in Europe, is central to that vision. But an arena needs a team worthy of it.
Amid all of this, Antoine Griezmann is playing out the final chapter of what has been the most significant individual story in the club's modern history. The Frenchman — Atlético's all-time top scorer with 211 goals, and widely regarded as the greatest player ever to wear the red and white — has confirmed he will join Orlando City in MLS when his contract expires in the summer. There is a remarkable footnote: for all Griezmann has given Atlético, he has never won a La Liga with them.
Griezmann's last dance will be emotional. He began it this weekend in LaLiga in a unfair defeat against Barcelona at the Metropolitano — the club where he struggled so much, his most unhappy years — before the Champions League quarter-finals. Then comes the Copa del Rey final on 18 April in Seville against Real Sociedad, the club where he grew up as a professional.
When Atlético spent €75 million plus €20 million in variables to sign Julián Álvarez from Manchester City — making him one of the most expensive signings in their history — the expectation was that the World Cup winner would become the fulcrum of everything. And for periods, he has been. Seventeen goals and nine assists in 44 games across all competitions this season are numbers that would satisfy most clubs.
But the mid-season slump has been deeply concerning. In February, Atlético passed a milestone of 100 days since Álvarez last scored in La Liga — a run of 812 minutes without a league goal. He has scored since then and the next big games will need his input.
There is a more unsettling undercurrent: Barcelona have identified the Argentine as their long-term successor to Robert Lewandowski and are reportedly willing to spend big to sign him. Álvarez has a contract until 2030, and Atlético are negotiating a salary increase to keep him. But sporting director Alemany is said to be aware that retaining the player will be extremely difficult if he expresses a genuine desire to leave. At the same time, the director of football insists he is not for sale.
Losing Álvarez is the kind of outcome that would fundamentally undermine confidence in Simeone's ability to attract and inspire elite talent.
Yet dismiss Simeone at your peril. He has faced down sceptics before, and the next few weeks represent a genuine chance to change the narrative around his tenure — if not its longer trajectory.
Atletico have already thrashed the Catalans 4-0 in the Copa del Rey, with Lookman in breathtaking form. The Nigerian winger, signed in January, has been exceptional — five goals and four assists in 14 appearances, with a direct goal contribution roughly every 84 minutes. The two legs against the Catalans promise to be legendary. Twice they have met in the knockout stages in the UEFA Champions League and twice Atletico knocked them out. The league game on Saturday is not a real reference as Simeone left many starters out to be fresh for the midweek game at the Camp Nou.
Everyone expects Simeone to stay for at least another season.
Neither the coach nor the club have got the intention to activate the release clause in his contract that allows either party to break the relationship. He is fully focused. The rebuild with Apollo's backing will continue with more investment in the side, and Atletico will continue being one of the top spenders in the market. So there are reasons for optimism about what the Metropolitano can watch next.
But the fundamental question — whether Simeone can genuinely evolve, not just survive — remains unanswered. He has 786 matches as Atlético manager, 465 wins (an impressive 59.16% of the games are wins), eight trophies, and the undying respect of a generation of supporters. He also has a team that cannot consistently win away from home, cannot unlock a low block, and cannot stop the league title drifting further away by spring.
Apollo are watching. And Simeone, for all his greatness, is at a crossroads that no amount of prestige can indefinitely delay.
