The Nou Camp was the venue for league leaders Atletico Madrid and Barcelona's last game of the season and with the hosts needing a victory and the visitors only needing a point, it was always going to be a cagey affair. Whatever tactic that had been practiced for the week coming up to the game in the Atletico camp went out the window when Diego Costa pulled up on a sprint down the left flank and signalled to the sideline that his day was finished. A reoccurrence of the hamstring injury that he had suffered last week against Malaga and tears of a season gone up in smoke as he made his way to the bench. When Cesc Fabregas ran into Arda Turan and the Turk was forced off just a few minutes later, it appeared that Simeone's starting eleven was in disarray, and possibly the entire squad's season. Adrian and Raul Garcia replaced the two injured Madrid men and the show went on.
Barcelona were happy to keep the ball, and Atletico were struggling. They did not have their industrious Turan wriggling his way down the left flank into dangerous positions and even if someone did get into a dangerous position for a cross, they didn't seem to have the bodies forward to even try to convert it. Barcelona's goalkeeper, Pinto, looked nervous on the ball but went largely untested for the entire first half. Their energy was gone and their tactics thrown into the Barcelona sky. It got worse when Alexis scored what was a contender for Goal of The Season after Messi chested the ball down to him at a seemingly impossible angle. Courtois was beaten at his near post by a bullet of a shot and Atletico hearts were broken, it seemed.
Whatever Simeone said at half-time and whatever inspired activites went on in the Atletico dressing room for that 15-minute rest period had worked. They came out like a new team in the second half and attacked relentlessly against a Barcelona team who have been in such pressurised situation before but couldn't handle the pressure. In the annals of history, Simeone's men will go down as La Liga winners in 2014 but it can never be stated enough as to how confident and calm he has gotten this team playing. A team of misfits with a wage bill that is dwarfed by their opponents drove meticulously at the reigning champions goal and the inventors of Tiki-Taka had no response. The breakthrough came from a Koke corner, when Diego Godin got a five yard run at the defence, rose highest above the entourage of yellow and maroon and blue shirts and sent a header to the left of goalkeeper Pinto and a shot through Culers hearts.
For the rest of the game, I could bore you with the details but you have seen it all before. The second leg of the Barcelona - Atletico Champions League semi-final when Los Rojiblancos encouraged Barca to cross the ball and Barcelona did, to no avail. Miranda, Godin, Juanfran and Filipe Luis were as staunch as ever in their defence of the goal and Courtois behind them. For all of the Catalans possession and pressure on Atletico's goals, they actually never looked like scoring. Aside from a disallowed goal by Messi which was ruled offside by the linesman. Xavi entered the fray, as did Alex Song and Neymar, but they did not hold the key to unlocking the La Liga winners' back four. There are questions now as to whether such a key exists. Pique turned into a centre forward and Neymar's energy on the left hand side was futile against the machine that is Cholo Simeone's forces.
Dramatic? Yes, but this is merely rubbing the surface of what Diego Simeone has achieved as the Manager of the "smaller of the two Madrid teams". They were magnificent, from Koke being carried through the game on adrenaline to Courtois, the on-loan goalkeeper, who is as much a part of that team as anyone there on a permanent contract.
Atletico Madrid are La Liga Champions for the first time in 19 years and will celebrate as such. The matter of the Champions League is but a minor one when you think of this achievement.