Galo finished only 3 points away from the champions having had their best season in a very long time. However, that was not enough and there’s a feeling of failure in the end.
Big investment in players and high hopes on eccentric Sampaoli fed the illusion of Atlético grabbing their second top flight title ever. And expectations seemed to be well adjusted after Atlético clearly won their regional championship well ahead of competition.
Atlético had a good start with three wins in first three rounds. However, Sampaoli’s teams are rarely able to keep long winning runs as there’s always an eventual slip up here and there.
That proved to be a fatal fact for Galo to miss silverware once again. From rounds 11 to 16, Atlético led the table, and there were moments of pure brilliant football. The unpredictable interchange between a 3-4-3 and a 4-3-3, with a fantastic trio upfront in Keno, Savarino and Sasha seemed at one point to be leading Galo into glory.
The team seemed to be overly dependant on their nuclear pieces. Whenever some important player missed, the team suffered. Injuries in Jair (November/December) and Keno (January/February), as well as international duty on the fabulous three foreigners (Alonso, Alan Franco and Savarino) cost Galo a few decisive points.
Big name mid-season signings Zaracho and Eduardo Vargas failed to impress; Alan Franco dropped the levels for the second part of the season. On the other hand, Hyoran and Nathan had very good moments at some point in the season.
Having signed with more big names like Hulk and Nacho, Atlético will keep high expectations for the title, but it will be hard to find someone that can live up to Sampaoli’s standards, as the Argentinean is leaving to join French football.
