Glamorous new boys Luis Suarez and James Rodriguez have inevitably been dominating the pre-season La Liga headlines, with assistance from returning stars Neymar, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale.
In Spain, it will always be that way considering the iron grip held upon the nation’s consciousness by the big two of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
However, it is well worth remembering that neither of those two giants are coming into the campaign as reigning champions, and it is time to show Atletico Madrid a bit more respect.
The achievement of Diego Simeone’s men in beating two of the most financially powerful organisations in professional sport to last season’s crown was truly remarkable, and they should not be discounted so easily at the dawn of the 2014-15 season.
True, Atleti have lost some key players with the departure of brilliant goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and goalscoring machine Diego Costa, but they have spent wisely to replace them and the all-new strike force of Mario Mandzukic and Antoine Griezmann is highly promising.
More than the identity of the individuals at their disposal, however, Atletico’s success last season served a timely reminder – in these celebrity obsessed days – that football is first and foremost a sport played by teams rather than individuals.
Irrespective of the number of superstars a squad contains, it does not matter if they cannot play together as a unit. Eleven good players working well together will more often than not come out victorious against 11 extremely good players who don’t form a cohesive unit.
Brilliant Atletico manager Diego Simeone proved that point in May when previously unheralded performers like Gabi, Diego Godin and Raul Garcia became champions whilst their world-renowned opponents from the Bernabeu and the Nou Camp watched on in frustration.
With the work ethic, discipline and team understanding instilled by Simeone, Atletico have every chance of mounting another serious title challenge – even though their players are inferior to their rivals on an individual basis.
To overhaul Atletico, Real and Barca will have to match their collective play. That will be a particular challenge for Luis Enrique, who returns to his former playing club desperately needing to find a team structure which allows his eye-catching forward line of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez to combine effectively.
That was most conspicuously not the case last year, when Messi and Neymar established virtually no on-field chemistry during the Brazilian starlet’s first season in Spain with the Catalan side at times reduced to the predictable tactic of giving the ball to Messi and standing around waiting for him to do something – the polar opposite of Atletico’s team-first ethos.
The same is true to a lesser extent at the Bernabeu, where president Florentino Perez has continued to pursue a policy of signing players according to their star status rather than their suitability to the team.
It’s a dangerous approach, because Atletico have already shown us that the best players might not win La Liga this season – but the best team will.
