La Liga 18/19: Atletico Madrid lost the war, but won the moral battle

When Diego Simeone arrived in the press room after the match, he appeared a bit more combative. He was proud of his team. He hailed the ten players that gave their all and made the match extremely competitive.

He also refuted a journalist that said that this season was a failure. “I can’t see why people see Atleti winning the European Super Cup and is fighting for second place in La Liga and people consider it a failure”.

In the overall picture, the team known for having their knife between their teeth suffered a death from the assassin that vanquishes all comers with a thousand paper cuts. The overall performance of Los Colchoneros will be overshadowed by the result and how it virtually locked up the league for the Blaugrana.

Simeone decided to play a 4-3-2 in order to assure his squad to have some semblance of balance despite having a numerical disadvantage. All of this was part of the promise that Simeone made about going for the match knowing that the onus was on the visitor and only a victory would be to their benefit.

El Cholo also took that commitment to another level, going against the narrative that his team is overly defensive.

Atleti wanted to attack and was able to remain compact defensively. What made them even more complicated as a team was that Jan Oblak was the best player on the pitch. The Slovenian keeper kept Barça scoreless for nearly 85 until Suárez broke through a nearly impenetrable wall in front of them.

Atleti were strong in the middle with Godín and Giménez. Thomas Partey played a solid match at right back for the injured Santiago Arias and gave more mobility in that sector. The Ghana international once again proved to be valuable to his team and if not for Oblak, many would have placed their votes for the Ghana international.

Meanwhile, Giménez rejected and cleared out everything that came along his path. He had the chance to be the hero in the latter stages of the game when Griezmann delivered a perfect ball into the area for the Uruguayan central defender but Rodri did not see his teammate coming.

But at the end of the day, it was too much for Atleti. “I feel bad for my team, but that’s what you get against Barca, who have the best player in history,” said Oblak after seeing his team concede two goals in two minutes.

"We showed great attitude and continued to do so when we had the extra man, We had the attitude to go forward and continue attacking against a keeper (Oblak) that was the man of the match," said Luis Suárez.

For the optimist, Atleti look forward towards the future. For the realist, that optimism seems like a façade that might see a team that will be going a major reconstruction starting next season with the impending departure of three pieces of that nucleus in Godín, Filipe Luis and Griezmann. It was ironic that Griezmann came onto the pitch and was immediately greeted with jeers from the Barça faithful, of course, that due to the summer romance that went bad last year.

One can list those players and it was within logic. Now, the aftermath of this encounter most likely adds Diego Costa to the list. Outside of all the tactical talk and storylines that came of this highly-anticipated encounter, what will capture all the headlines is how Diego Costa was sent off.

This time it was not a push or shove or an altercation with a player. He did not get injured or the realization of a failed horse placenta treatment. It was his mouth. It was what came out his mouth that will probably see him serve a four to five-match ban.

"If it is true that he said what he said to the referee, he deserves to be sent off," said Simeone. With that stressor, there was only one thing that the Argentine wanted to do- solve the problem. That seems to be what he did with his tactical changes.

Simeone did not condone Costa's actions as he, once again, let his team down because of his mouth and not anyone in that dressing room seemed pleased. Referee Gil Manzano's report damned the Spain international as he said that the player verbally abused him when he talked about his mother and grabbed his hand in order to prevent him from showing the card.

Yet the spirit of the players and their coach's image was ingrained in every movement and adjustment they made. They battled and fought and, on occasion, threatened. Yet Barcelona persevered and found a way. Either it was Suárez and the ball placed in the only place Oblak was not getting to or Messi scattering the entire defence to close the league out. So many poisons that could be chosen.

In this performance, there was no sin committed by 13 of the eleven players dressed in red and white that looked to fight off Barcelona, The Universe, and Logic in order to keep their slim hope of glory alive.

The Future Is Bright

After the match, a resigned but pleased Simeone hailed his team. He recognized the difficulties of having to contend with two of the biggest clubs on the planet year in and year out. He talked about how his team is relatively young and they are learning. He talked about what the youth have for Atlético heading into the final stages of this season and the future.

What the realist also has to keep in mind is that after nearly eight years, Simeone has found ways to reinvent Atleti with different faces and kept them competitive.

Eternally optimistic? Maybe. Outside of his temperament, it is this that helped Simeone survive even tougher blows on even bigger stages. It was his optimism that helped him come back from Lisbon in 2014 and then shootouts two years later. Optimism and hope have been the life vein of Atleti's success in this era.

It was Suárez who said that Simeone was the one that took his team to fight against the elite of world football. So as long as he is there, this team will always compete and keep their fanbase hopeful.

Where we all can agree is that this team is at a crossroads and new leaders will most likely emerge. There will be changes, the only difference is if the rest of the club follows his vision and they begin to reassure his words with actions during the summer to replace the pieces that were part of the club's most successful epoch ever. Although, in the short term, Atleti will continue doing the only thing they know how to do- fight on.