Atletico Madrid Are Quite An Entertaining Side.....

Sky Sports' Mark Bolton described Atletico Madrid's performance on Sunday night as "exasperating". He also added "enigmatic" and went on to exclaim the now-familiar Atletico definer 'you don’t know which Atletico team is going to turn up’. What was clear was that he was lost for words and so were his studio guests Avram Grant and Guillem Balague.

Because they, as well as those who had bothered to watch a Spanish football match at the awkward (UK) time of Sunday 9 pm, had just observed one of the great Atleti comebacks. Because they had once again seen how weirdly unpredictable and bookmakers’ nightmare this not so great but not so bad Atletico side can be. Because they had just seen another of those great Calderon nights in which you should have your phone near you in case you have to call your doctor.

Relegation fighting Espanyol went 2-0 up in the space of two minutes in the first half after Atletico Madrid had gone a man down, Luis Perea having been sent off on the half hour mark. Those were 'the crazy 10 minutes' and it hardly seemed at the time that Atletico would be able to do anything, except concede more. When Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz blew the half-time whistle, Atletico were clearly the second best side in the match and Espanyol, even with Ivan de la Pena quiet and Raul Tamudo off injured, looked more than just capable of winning. Since coach Mauricio Pochettino had paid a visit to the religious mountain of Montserrat, the 'other club from Barcelona' had collected 16 points from a possible 18 and were inching away from the dreaded drop.

Only for Atletico to intervene. Atletico do not really have that Barcelona-esque class or the Manchester United-esque effectiveness, but they have an innate quality to thrill and excite even at the worst of times. Manchester United flop but La Liga star and Atletico 'legend of the moment' Diego Forlan started the comeback in the 53rd minute when he blasted home a left-footed swerving shot from 25 yards out and then El Diego's son-in-law Sergio Aguero, one of the best players in Europe last season but quite inconsistent and under par this term, equalized on the hour mark when he sneaked in at the far post.

From 2-0 down to 2-2 in just seven minutes and there was still half an hour of ineffable football left to be played. And you thought that Atleti were going to tuck in two goals and concede as many. They kept on barging forward and so did Espanyol and it was, as most Spanish games are, quite open.

Then in the last minute struck Diego Forlan again. He latched onto Simao's ball into the box and again for the umpteenth time carried Atleti to a highly unlikely but hugely cracking victory.

So while the Espanyol supporters went back to their Catalunya nation unable to believe what they had just witnessed, the remainder of the 40,000 crowd went home savoring one more scintillating display of this erratically entertaining Atletico Madrid side.

And it is not only in this match that Atletico have stopped all hearts; they have been doing so seemingly forever. The Rojiblancos have been involved in 4-0s, 6-1s, 4-4s, 4-1s, 5-2s, 3-2s, 3-0s, 4-2s, 5-1s and 3-1s and have had the audacity to tuck in four past the mighty Barcelona at home in what was one of the best matches anywhere in Europe this season. The Madrid derby at the Bernabeu ended in a 1-1 draw but it was one of the best ever 1-1 draws. Last season ten of Atletico Madrid's league matches had four goals or more. They had two 4-3s, a 4-2 (against Barcelona) and a 6-3.

Atletico Madrid, if you allow for a slight exaggeration, have the worst defence in La Liga- it is even worse than Real Madrid's, if you can believe it. They concede goals at random, their midfield can be erratic, penetration through the middle often comes with the aid of a striker dropping deep or a wide midfielder cutting inside, their goals as much sublime as hilarious.

In Leo Franco, they have a weird goalkeeper who was more inclined to come out of his penalty box on Sunday than stay on his line, the backfour of Johnny Heitinga, Luis Pera, Tomas Ujfalusi and Mariano Pernia couldn’t have been worse, Maxi's wooden left leg makes him redundant at times, Simao's class but is 29 and Sergio Aguero has been under par this season. The player who has been really dragging Atletico towards the top four this time, as Aguero did last season, is Diego Forlan who with 27 goals in 29 starts in the league is only one goal behind Barcelona's Samuel Eto’o in the hunt for the Pichichi.

Football's said to be an unpredictable sport and no team other than Atletico Madrid can best encapsulate it. While Barcelona always play their boringly entertaining silky passing football, Manchester United are always effective and romantic in equal measure, Liverpool are always tactical, Arsenal all silk and no steel, Inter Milan coma-inducing, it is Atletico Madrid who always, always, always make you wonder what they are going to do next. Their entertainment is somewhat schoolboyish stuff, quite amateurish but with a touch of naiveté and innocence: they can play two 1-1 draws with Liverpool in the mother of all club competitions, can be at the end of a 6-1 hammering by FC Barcelona, defeat Racing Santander 4-1 at home and lose to them 5-1 away, conquer Barcelona 4-3 and then suffer a 4-2 loss to Osasuna.

This Atletico Madrid side is unalloyed entertainment who would be triumphant even when suffering defeats. Their wins are as much enthralling as their defeats are comically erratic, their football as much heart stopping as heart breaking. For those who watch Atletico Madrid regularly would have no hesitancy in declaring them as the most entertaining (and most unpredictable) team in Europe.

After Barcelona, of course.

Subhankar Mondal

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