Altetico de Madrid won the hearts of many people last season. They defied the odds and won the La Liga title, as well as making it to the final of the Champions League where they were defeated by city rivals Real Madrid.
However, just when everyone felt that their success last season will never happen again, they defeat Real Madrid in the Spanish super cup.
Despite the fears that losing Thibault Courtois and Diogo Costa would ruin the Spanish champions, they came out successful and possibly better than ever. They proved that they don’t need to spend half a billion dollars to make their team successful.
Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone created a squad with arguably the best defense in football. Every time they play a big team such as Real Madrid or Barcelona they know how to press and start problems.
The Super Cup win against Real Madrid showed that Atletico still have that heart and spirit that they had last season. They may not have superstars likes Cristiano Ronaldo or Gareth Bale, but they know how to play like a team. Rather than a bunch of ego’s on the field, they are a unit.
Day in and day out Atletico do not give up. Their style of football is so unique that they will be hard to stop. Many people criticize Simeone for ‘parking the bus’ during big matches but it is the factor that allows Atletico to be so successful.
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti spoke to Real Madrid.com about their rivals and had this to say, “Atletico have changed a little because they have signed some big players. Their style has not changed and it will be a difficult match, as it was last season.”
If Aletico continue to play with the same intensity that they did last season, they will be successful. Teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona have bought new and better players but that does not mean that they will not be successful.
They will go into the season with their heads held high with the win against Real Madrid. They will have success with new signing Mario Mandzukic who scored the game winner against Real Madrid in the second leg of the Super Cup. Who looks to be a stellar replacement for Diego Costa.
Atletico have also acquired Antoine Griezmann who gives their attack a different style and outlet. In total all of Atletico’s summer signings cost them 
95 million. With that 95 million, they defeated the team who spent half a billion dollars building their team.
Diego Simeone deserves all the credit for building the team that he did. It can be argued that he is the best manager in the world and there is no doubt that he is extremely passionate about his team.
Currently serving an 8 match ban for an incident that happened in the second leg of the cup, Simeone will not stop the way that he is coaching his team. He is everything a team needs and more.
So, can Atletico Madrid be as successful as they were last season? Yes, they can. If Atletico continue to play with that fire and willpower to win, they will have all the success in the world. Of course they will face the bigger teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid but they were in that same situation last season and they came up on top.
It’s football and anything can happen.