SPANISH LA LIGA: ATLETICO MADRID FOOTBALL CLUB
The year also saw the emergence of Kun Agüero as a scoring threat, finishing third in the Pichichi Trophy standings with 19 goals. The season was not without controversy, though, as two of the team's Portuguese stars (Costinha and Maniche) left the team to go to Italy (a sale to Atalanta and a loan deal with Inter Milan, respectively) after highly-publicised disagreements with manager Javier Aguirre.
The 2007–08 season was one of Atletico's most successful campaigns in recent memory, with the team finishing strong both in La Liga and in Europe, progressing to the round of 32 in the UEFA Cup before being knocked out by English side Bolton Wanderers by a solitary goal at the Reebok. On the domestic side, los Rojiblancos achieved their highest league position in over 10 years: fourth overall, finishing level on the table with Sevilla with 64 points but beating them to the last Champions League qualifying place by virtue of their two wins against the Costa del Sol team (4–3 at the Calderón and 2–1 in Andalucía).
All that feeds into the myths, reinforcing them: Real Madrid as the power, Atletico the people; bourgeoisie against proletarians; right-wing against left-wing (even though the far right is as implicated in Atlético as it is in Real Madrid, and the city's third team, Rayo Vallecano, largely ignored, is the one which has more left-wing influence); the swish, sanitised north against the 'real' city of the south; the favored against the persecuted; the media darlings against the unfashionable battlers...
The Bernabeu is majestic, alongside banks and businesses on the classy and aristocratic Castellana, while the Calderon can be found beside a brewery. Real Madrid draw greater support certainly because of its successes, while Atletico gain the majority of its friends from the passionate working-class south of the city.
Certainly, the dictatorial state sought to make political capital out of Real Madrid's European Cup trophies at a time when Spain was internationally isolated - "Real Madrid are the best embassy we ever had," said one minister. Such perceptions have had an important impact on the city's footballing identities, tapping into the collective consciousness. In this vein, Atlético fans were probably the originators, and are the most frequent singers, of the song "Real Madrid, Real Madrid, el equipo del gobierno, la verguenza del país" ("Real Madrid, Real Madrid, the government's team, the country's shame").
That Franco's regime subsequently intervened to ensure success for Real Madrid for political and propaganda purposes is widely alleged and believed, although denied by many Real Madrid supporters.
Real Madrid and Atletico are clubs with contrasting identities and very different fates. Historically, Real Madrid have long been seen as the establishment club. On the other side, the rojiblancos were always characterized by a sentimiento de rebeldía (a sense of rebellion) although, during the early Franco years, it was Atlético that was the preferred team of the regime, being associated with the military airforce, until the regime's preferences moved towards Real Madrid in the 1950s.
Atletico is already seeing some strong changes to their lineup, with their veteran goalkeeper Leo Franco now departing and the promising young Real Valladolid star, Sergio Asenjo expected to take his place. Atletico also purchased Real Betis defender and Spanish international, Juanito. Despite pressure from big clubs to purchase their star players, Aguero and Forlan, Atletico remained committed to keeping their strong attacking base in the hopes for a successful new season.
Atletico's success continued in the last season when they placed 4th once again in the league table, securing a position in the playoff round of the UEFA Champions League. Striker Diego Forlan was crowned Pichichi of the season and Golden Boot when he scored 32 goals for Atletico this season.
There was a public outrage after his dismissal, many believing he was not the cause of Atlético's problems, specifically player Diego Forlán who claimed “Dismissing Javier was the easy way out, but he was not the cause of our problems. The players are to blame because we have not been playing well and we have been committing a lot of errors." Abel Resino was confirmed as the new manager.
On 3 February 2009, Javier Aguirre was dismissed from his post as manager after a terrible start to 2009, not winning a game in 6 run outs. He later claimed this was simply not the case, and that he had been released by mutual termination rather than sacked.
This season, Atlético have added French goalkeeper Grégory Coupet, Dutch central defender John Heitinga, Czech central defender Tomáš Ujfaluši, Brazilian central midfielder Paulo Assunção, Argentine Midfielder Ever Banega (on loan from Valencia S.A.D., and French forward Florent Sinama-Pongolle to the lineup, who join returning loanee Portuguese central midfielder Maniche.
So far, the 2008/09 season has proven to be another great stride forward in the resurrection of Club Atlético de Madrid's reputation as a force to be reckoned with both in Domestic and European Football, with participation continuing in the UEFA Champions League, however recent performances in La Liga have not been as successful as the club would have liked.
More significantly, the team finished the La Liga season in 4th place, qualifying for Champions League Play. The return of UEFA Champions League football to the Vicente Calderon Stadium was the first time since the 1996/97 season, when Atlético lost in the Quarterfinal round to the Dutch powerhouse Ajax. Sergio Agüero, Diego Forlán, Simão, Maxi Rodríguez, and goalkeeper Leo Franco led Atlético to its first Champions League appearance in more than ten years.
The 2007/08 season proved to be the most successful season for the club in the last decade. The team reached the round of 32 of the UEFA Cup, where they were defeated by Bolton Wanderers. They also reached the Quarterfinal round of the Domestic Cup, the Copa del Rey, where they were beaten by eventual champions Valencia.
In July 2007, the Atlético board reached an agreement with the city of Madrid to sell the land where the stadium is built and move the club to the Olympic Stadium, owned by the city. Atlético will be allowed to play in Vicente Calderón stadium until 2010. The new stadium will be owned by the club on 2016, as the city is applying to host the 2016 Olympic Games.
Several weeks later, the club gave up Bulgarian star Martin Petrov to Manchester City, but got a replacement shortly after: Portuguese star Simão, signed from Benfica for roughly €20 million. On 29 July, it was announced that Atlético had signed winger José Antonio Reyes for €12 million.
Fernando Torres shocked the club in June 2007 when he stated his desire to play for Liverpool. He left Atlético and joined the English giant on 4 July 2007 for £26.5 million, £20 million of which was in cash, with the rest consisting of the rights to Luis García. Around this same time, Atleti also made a splash by signing Uruguay international and former European Golden Boot/Pichichi winner Diego Forlán for roughly €21 million from Villarreal.
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