There’s no use beating around the bush: Atlético Madrid have been an abject failure on the road this season.
After kicking off the season with a 2-1 defeat at Espanyol, Atleti proceeded to draw 1-1 at Deportivo Alavés and lose 3-2 at Liverpool before drawing 1-1 at both Mallorca and Celta de Vigo, results followed by a humiliating 4-0 beatdown at Arsenal. At the end of October, they managed to bounce back and claim their first away win after beating Real Betis 2-0 via goals from Giuliano Simeone and Álex Baena, before edging Getafe 1-0 courtesy of a late own goal one month later. However, this proved to be a mere blip rather than a sea change, with Atleti succumbing to a 3-1 defeat in Barcelona followed by a 1-0 defeat at Athletic Club in December.
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To end 2025, Atleti responded by winning 3-2 at PSV Eindhoven and Atlético Baleares before the Rojiblancos took care of business with a 3-0 win at Girona. Unfortunately for Atleti, normal business resumed in the new year. They relinquished a momentary lead in a 1-1 draw at Real Sociedad. Atleti then headed to Saudi Arabia and lost 2-1 to crosstown rivals Real Madrid in the Supercopa de España, before they eked out a 1-0 victory at Deportivo La Coruña. After succumbing to back-to-back draws on the road to Galatasaray and Levante, Atleti rebounded with arguably their finest away performance of the campaign, a 5-0 demolition of Real Betis in the Copa del Rey.
The rollercoaster ride continued. Atleti followed a 1-0 home loss in the rematch against Betis with a 4-0 thrashing of Barcelona in the Copa del Rey. That in turn led to a 3-0 loss at Rayo Vallecano leading up to Wednesday’s contest with Club Brugge at rainy Jan Breydelstadion.
While they are all but guaranteed to advance to the Copa del Rey final and face off against Real Sociedad or Athletic Club, Atlético’s league form has been far more problematic, Diego Simeone’s side having failed to win each of their last three LaLiga matches. Atlético currently sit just fourth in the table, four points above fifth-placed Real Betis, three points behind Villarreal — not to mention 13 points behind Barcelona and 15 behind Real Madrid.
But even with these struggles, you couldn’t help but expect a convincing display in their trip to Belgium. Instead, we got more of the same porous defensive displays and inconsistent performances that have plagued Atleti’s season.
Despite going two goals to the good before the interval via two set-pieces, Atleti failed to control their advantage and struggled to deal with a corner kick after the break, allowing the hosts to bundle in their first goal. Club Brugge capitalized and took control of the momentum, with Mamadou Diakhon blowing past Giuliano Simeone and firing a cross towards the near post, where Nicolò Trisoldi was there to slide in the equalizer. This served as a wake-up call for Simeone, who brought on Baena and Alexander Sørloth, with the latter giving Atleti a real impetus in attack and coming close to scoring on multiple occasions before eventually forcing Joel Ordóñez to fire into his own net.
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The Atlético Madrid of old would have dug their heels in, parked the bus and defended diligently for the final quarter-hour to see out the result. But this isn’t the Atleti of old – it’s a team that has conceded two or more goals a whopping seven times since the start of December. Atleti never looked remotely comfortable with the lead, with Christos Tzolis being allowed to trot inside and play a one-two with Raphael Onyedika, only to fire a tame shot into Jan Oblak’s grasp. This didn’t stop Brugge from pressing the issue – it merely fueled their fight.
And so, with three Rojiblancos hanging by the halfway line and three in midfield, Hugo Siquet was able to find an ocean of space and dial a pass towards Onyedika, who turned and found a completely unmarked Tzolis on the left flank. Timing his run to perfection, the Greek forward took a couple of controlled touches before he struck a powerful, measured shot into the bottom right corner.
Over the first decade of Simeone’s tenure, Atleti was renowned for an ability to break down teams with dogged pressing and coordinated rest defense. It’s precisely this defensive solidity that saw Simeone’s side win the Europa League title in 2012 and 2018 and reach the Champions League final in 2014 and 2016.
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However, recent years have seen Atleti take a step back, failing to reach the Champions League semifinal since 2017. Today, they find themselves at risk of missing out on the Champions League round of 16 for just the third time in the past 13 years. If they are to make it to the next round, they’ll need to produce a far more disciplined display in Madrid on Tuesday.