Atletico Set To Seize La Liga Lead With Real Madrid And Barcelona In Saudi Arabia

With Spanish champions Real Madrid and their arch-rivals Barcelona competing in Saudi Arabia for the Spanish Super Cup, Atletico Madrid is focused on claiming the top position in La Liga.

Diego Simeone’s side have won 13 games straight across all competitions and a victory against visitors Osasuna on Sunday would take them clear of Los Blancos by a point at the halfway mark of the league campaign.

Another victory would put them six points ahead of Barcelona, who dominated the table for much of the season’s first half before experiencing a decline in performance during November and December.

The only time Atletico managed to finish as ‘winter champions’ in Simeone’s reign was in the 2021/22 season when they went on to win the title.

Their run of winning form is the joint best in the club’s history, along with an identical stretch in 2012 relatively early in Simeone’s tenure.

The Rojiblancos have suffered only one defeat in the league this season, losing to Real Betis in October, and they’ve been on a remarkable rise ever since.

Atletico have won seven straight games in La Liga, keeping four clean sheets and scoring 17 goals while conceding only five.

Argentine midfielder, De Paul has been an essential part of Atletico’s surge in form.

The 30-year-old is in excellent goal-scoring form, having found the net three times in his last four league matches, including a crucial goal in the thrilling 2-1 victory over title rivals Barcelonathrilling 2-1 victory over title rivals Barcelona before the winter break.

In attack, Simeone has a host of options with Antoine Griezmann and Julian Alvarez seemingly his preferred strike force, with Alexander Sorloth regularly making a huge impact from the bench.

The Norwegian hitman struck the winner against Barcelona and is the team’s top scorer with eight league goals despite starting just seven games.

“The team has been growing; some games it’s played better, and others have been harder we need to keep improving,” said Simeone after the winter break.

The coach is notoriously reluctant to muse on his team’s title chances and insists on focusing game by game.

Osasuna, currently in 10th place, are tough opponents and may adjust their tactics to try to contain Simeone’s in-form Atletico by switching to a five-man defense.

Elsewhere, Real Sociedad welcomes Villarreal on Monday in an interesting battle between two high-calibre sides.

Villarreal, fifth, is one of the division’s most entertaining sides but has struggled to defend, conceding 30 goals – more than any other side in the top 15.

Real Sociedad, positioned seventh, will be optimistic about securing three points and narrowing the gap to the teams above them following a slow start to the season.