Exceeded all expectations: how Atletico broke away from Real Madrid with Barcelona and became the favorite of the championship race in Example

The second round match between the rivals turned out to be a little more intense than in the first round.

Madrid did not betray themselves and again struck the gates of Jeremias Ledesma four times, but this time they could not leave their own intact.

Alvaro Negredo, a pupil of Real Madrid, was the goal scorer and scored a double.

Luis Suarez answered with two accurate hits at the “mattress”.

First, the Uruguayan scored a direct free-kick (for the first time since August 2016), and then converted the penalty.

Thanks to this, he came out not only to the leaders of the scorer race, but also to the fifth place in the goals scored in La Liga in the XXI century (158).

Only Karim Benzema (179), David Villa (184), Cristiano Ronaldo (311) and Lionel Messi (453) have more.

The arrival of Suarez is now considered by many to be one of the key factors in Atletico's leadership in the Spanish championship.

The experienced forward has become a serious reinforcement for the “mattress”.

After the departure of Antoine Griezmann, they lacked a bright star in the attack, able to act as efficiently as possible in the end, but the Uruguayan was able to more than compensate for the loss of the Frenchman.

He only had half of the championship to score 14 goals and surpass the achievement of the best sniper of last season in the Madrid squad - Alvaro Morata.

If Suarez manages to maintain such a high pace, then for the entire championship he could become the author of more than 30 goals.

This will allow him not only to surpass the achievement of Griezmann in one single championship, but also to inscribe his name in the modern history of Atletico.

In the 21st century, only his legendary compatriot Diego Forlan managed to surpass such a bar.

In the 2008/09 season, he scored 32 goals in 33 matches and won the Pichichi award.

Largely thanks to the Uruguayan, Atletico was the first among the representatives of La Liga to overcome the mark of 40 goals scored.

Thus, Simeone's wards finished the first half in the status of not only the most productive, but also the most low-performing team.

But if all the fans and experts have already got used to the fact that the defense of the “mattress” is rightfully considered the benchmark, then the striking game in attack was a real revelation.

And it's not just Suarez.

Undoubtedly, we can note the progress of João Felix, who has already surpassed his own indicators on the "goal + pass" system a year ago.

This time it took the Portuguese only half of the championship to score six goals, but he has already given more assists than last season (4 - 1).

Marcos Llorente and Kieran Trippier added noticeably, and Tom Lemar began to work out the € 72 million spent on its acquisition (according to Transfermarkt).

However, all this would hardly have become possible if not for Simeone's decision to change the tactical scheme.

Until now, Atlético have played exclusively with four defenders, but this season they have adopted a hybrid system.

In possession of the ball, the team began to act in three central ones - 3-1-4-2 or 3-4-1-2, and in case of loss, they returned to their favorite 4-4-2.

As a result, Madrid began to have more ball possession (52.3% versus 48.5% in the last championship) and to combine more often on the third of the opponent's field (160.4 touches on average per game versus 146.6).

At the same time, for the first time, Simeone tried out a new formation in the first round match with Cadiz.

In the next 12 meetings, Atlético won 11 victories, losing only to a direct competitor - Real Madrid.

But the 20-match losing streak with Barcelona in Example was interrupted, and Sevilla and Real Sociedad were beaten, occupying the fourth and sixth places in the standings, respectively.

During both confrontations, the capital's players gave up control of the ball to their opponents, but they acted excellently on counterattacks, thanks to which they took over.

And if the former surpassed Madrid not only in possession, but also in expected goals (xG), then the latter could not create anything dangerous at the gate of Jan Oblak.

However, in the situation with the leadership of Atlético, there are still a few strange moments.

Despite the fact that the team became more possession of the ball and attacking, this did not affect the expected goals per game on average.

If you believe FBref, in comparison with the previous season, it increased very slightly (1.40 - 1.38).

Such an indicator indicates that in terms of creating chances, El Cholo's squad did not make much progress.

When compared with their direct competitors, they are inferior to Celta, Villarreal, Real Sociedad and Real Madrid from Madrid, and the lag behind Barcelona is enormous.

For the Catalans, this figure is 2.17.

Consequently, the key factor in the success of Atlético was not so much progress in the attacking game as the phenomenal realization of chances.

Last season, the team scored 51 goals, and the xG indicator was 52.6.

This suggests that Madrid have realized almost all their chances, with the exception of one or two.

As for the expected conceded goals (xGA), the team conceded a little less than they should have - 27 instead of 30.8.

This is due to the presence in the composition of Ian Oblak, who is rightly considered one of the best goalkeepers on the planet.

In the current championship, Atletico have scored 26.6 goals, but at the same time they have already scored 39 goals.

The situation is about the same with the missed - ten instead of 13.7.

Simeone's team significantly exceeds expectations, which may be due to both the phenomenal form of the players and the usual luck.

One way or another, so far there are no guarantees that the team will be able to maintain such a rhythm throughout the championship, which indirectly hints at the continuation of the race for gold.

Certainly, it is impossible to belittle the achievements of "mattress makers".

At the moment they look much more confident than their rivals, each of which is experiencing colossal problems.

Although “Real” beat all direct competitors, it has already managed to yield to outsiders “Cadiz” and “Alaves”, as well as the bloodless “Valencia” and the average “Levante”.

Barcelona has only recently begun to gain its usual pace, but how long it will last is unknown.

Blue garnet are still in the process of restructuring and in the near future they risk losing their legend in the person of Lionel Messi.

The press has long been rumors about his possible departure from Catalonia, and the publication of information about his contract can only speed up the process.