On the back of this month’s international break, Into the Calderón brings you up to date with everything you need to know around Atlético Madrid.
From new appointments in the board room to academy products
shining at World Cups, we’ve got you covered in this month’s edition of Club News.
Cardoso hokey pokey
First he was in, then he was out, Tuesday back in again and by Wednesday ruled out.
Johnny Cardoso has been hit with another setback on his quest to return to fitness. According to Diario AS, the American picked up a knock in Tuesday’s training session that wasn’t serious, but is being treated with utmost caution by the club.
Cardoso was to train in a progressive way and was going to finish his session before his teammates anyway, but the hit taken to the recovering ankle meant he was withdrawn even earlier than planned. The midfielder did not train Wednesday, and it appears unlikely that he will play Saturday against Osasuna.
In more positive injury-related news, Arsenal’s Martin Ødegaard has been ruled out for several weeks according to UK-based newspapers, which makes him unavailable for Atlético’s visit to the Emirates Stadium next Tuesday. The Norwegian is one of the London club’s biggest sources of creativity, with Mikel Arteta’s side already showing signs of difficulty when he isn’t on the pitch.
Saying that, the Gunners won’t be short of options to replace him, with Spain star Mikel Merino the favourite to do so.
We beat Inter Milan already!
In case you missed it, in the middle of the international break, the Atleti squad flew to war-torn Libya to face Inter Milan in a random mid-season friendly.
With a healthy number of players on duty with their national teams, a squad comprised of those left behind and academy players from the B and C teams traveled to Benghazi, where they prevailed on penalties against the Italians after the match finished 1-1 in regular time.
Juan Musso was the “hero” in this largely-meaningless game, saving two of the spot kicks in the shootout. Carlos Martín grabbed his first Atlético goal to put his team ahead before Yann Bisseck leveled the game.
The two sides will face each other in a competitive scenario on Nov. 26 in the Champions League, with this match offering little to hint at what might happen in that match due to the thinned-out squads on show.
As has become custom in recent years, Atlético de Madrid have once again taken part in a controversially-organized friendly — this time in a country increasingly hosting sports events in an attempt to distract the world from other occurrences they might not want disclosed.
Not surprisingly, the reward was a healthy paycheck: Marca reporting that Atlético received €3 million for playing this match.
On the plus side, we did see a return to action for Thiago Almada and Mr. MIA José María Giménez who both managed the first half. Also, the club livestreamed the event for free on their YouTube channel, providing in-house commentary and showing an intention to increase their own media production for matches.
Next stop: Atlético Madrid TV?
Ale-might be a good signing?
As already covered on the website, the club have appointed Mateu Alemany (pronounced Ale-migh) as their new Sporting Director, casting further doubt over the club’s internal structure.
On the surface, someone who has triumphed at Valencia CF as president and at FC Barcelona in a key squad-planning role looks to be a progressive “signing”, especially given how long Atleti have been pursuing him for.
But with Carlos Bucero barely a year into his role, it raises some concerns as to his relationship with Diego Simeone, now that Alemany has “maximum responsibility” over the first team (including incoming and outgoing transfers).
It’s no secret how hard the club are pushing to becoming a global footballing powerhouse, but any organization that has so many steps between owner and average worker (players in this instance) doesn’t tend to work with as much cohesiveness and harmony as maybe a smaller structure does. Only time will tell how this statement of intent will pan out.
More season tickets than ever
Atlético Madrid have reached a new milestone with respect to season tickets. After selling out all of their VIP sections that are designated to abonados, the club now has a total of 61,304 loyal match-going fans.
This is 100 percent of the seats in the whole Estadio Metropolitano that the club has assigned for season ticket holders, meaning a waiting list will now begin. In the 70,000-capacity stadium, less than 9,000 tickets per match are now available for general sale, making it one of the most difficult venues for the public and tourists to get into in the whole of Spain, alongside the two Seville-based clubs.
In the statement posted by the club on Tuesday, the stadium is described as a “motor of social growth”, and mentioned that the waiting list already has over 7,000 people in it.
Highs and lows for Atlético Madrid Femenino
Atleti’s women’s team had started the season unbeaten and in free-flowing goal-scoring form. They even won their opening UEFA Women’s Champions League league stage fixture 6-0 away from home against SKN St.Poelten of Austria.
However, as it often does in the women’s game, all that positivity came to a halt with a thumping defeat at the hands of Barcelona.
The catalanas followed up their own big continental win (a 7-1 drubbing of Bayern Munich) with a 6-0 win at the Centro Deportivo Alcalá de Henares, home of Atlético Madrid Femenino.
Víctor Martín’s side hadn’t conceded more than a goal in any of the nine games prior to this, scoring a total of 26 themselves. Star players Luany and Fiamma Benítez were unable to provide any magic as the best women’s team in the world triumphed in usual fashion.
The result leaves the team level on points with Real Madrid and Real Sociedad, seven points off the pace of league leaders Barcelona after seven games.
The team’s focus now turns towards Thursday’s UWCL clash with Manchester United, and they will do so with a new women’s football director at the helm.
Patricia González, the previous person in this position, “reached an agreement” with the club to leave her position on Tuesday. The former FIFA employee’s replacement was announced on the same day in the form of Beni Rubido, who will start in the role on November 1.
Rubido has been the national team coach of the Costa Rica women’s side for the last two years, as well as having coaching roles within FIFA and previous experience as the head of the Racing de Ferrol academy.
Madrileño on a mission
Fernando Torres’ Atlético Madrileño are well-positioned for a promotion push given their early-season form. Should they win their game in hand against second-from-bottom Hercules (the match being postponed for the Inter Milan friendly), the team will go top of Group 2 of the third tier of Spanish football.
They will be delighted to be doing so with the help of returning superstar Rayane Belaid, who starred for the Spain national team as they made the U20 World Cup quarter-finals in Chile. The youngster received offers in the summer to tempt him up the divisions, but the attacker stayed loyal to Torres’ project and will be a crucial player for the side should they want promotion this campaign.
Unfortunately, his return has been counter balanced by the news of Ilias Kostis‘ ACL injury suffered in the first team’s friendly in Libya. The Greek youth international was brought into Simeone’s squad as he often has been in the past, but the past traumas of long-term injury have come back to haunt the defender.
Kostis previously missed a considerable amount of the 2022/23 season with a similar injury and is now facing the rest of this season out too.
Kids shine in Orlando
The La Liga Futures International Tournament has been won by Atlético Madrid for the fourth consecutive year!
The Infantil B (U14) team traveled to the USA to take on a host of Spanish and international teams, and came out victorious in the small-sided matches.
A 3-1 win in the final against Palmeiras rounded off a successful tournament that also saw a win over rivals Real Madrid. Could we see any of these youngsters in the first team in the future?
