(Reuters) – La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid are under increasing pressure as they continue to choke in their first domestic league title bid since 2014.
Diego Simeone’s side have won just two of their last five Liga matches, seeing their 10-point lead cut to four by Barcelona in second place and six by Real Madrid in third.
Their disappointing form continued on Wednesday as they stormed out of the Champions League in the last 16 after a 2-0 defeat at Chelsea to leave 3-0 on aggregate.
Simeone, far from allowing his side to focus solely on their domestic title bid, said the exit was a blow. “I always think you want to be winning games, getting through to the final stages of such great competitions,” he told a news conference ahead of a low-profile Alaves visit on Sunday. “The Champions League was very difficult for us this season.
“We need to learn from this, improve and reset on Thursday to be back on Friday racing to go and ready to play every remaining game with everything we can.”
If Atleti is to kick ahead and bounce back with a league win, Simeone’s accusations will need to arrest their decline since the start of the New Year. They have won eight of 16 games, keeping just three clean sheets in 2021. Hot on their heels is Barcelona, who travel to Real Sociedad in fifth place on Sunday. The Catalans will look to build on the new feel good factor at the club after Joan Laporta was elected president.
Lionel Messi’s recent improvement in form, which has seen him score 10 times in his last nine games in all competitions, means they are well placed to take advantage of any Atletico slip-atlet.
On Saturday, Real Madrid will travel to the center of the Celta Vigo table as they look to stay in the title mix on a day that also sees Athletic Bilbao face runner-up Eibar in a Basque derby.