Look at the Liga BBVA table right now. At the top is not FC Barcelona or Real Madrid. Instead, Atletico Madrid sits up there, albeit up two points with one extra game over second place Barcelona. Atletico is on fire, especially on defense where they have given up only four goals in their previous nine La Liga fixtures. While there aren't many players in good form on the attacking end, French attacking midfielder Antoine Griezmann is carrying the load, scoring 10 goals in his 16 matches played.
Barcelona is still the best team in La Liga, but Atletico can hold them off with their defense. GK Jan Oblak is good, but hasn't really needed to be. Felipe Luis, Diego Godin, Jose Maria Gimenez and Juanfran are playing remarkably, preventing teams from getting great chances.
On the front line, the team hasn't had great success from its strikers, with the trio of Fernando Torres, Jackson Martinez and Angel Correa combining for eight goals so far across all competition. Among midfielders, Saul Niguez has the most goals, with five, but only one coming in league play. Griezmann has been stellar across all competitions, excelling mainly in La Liga play, scoring 10 goals.
Looking at the squad, there are players that can get into good form and help Atletico stay at the top of the table, most notably Torres and midfielder Koke, who have proven before their ability to be key contributors to successful teams. If any of them do, Atletico is a very formidable foe for any top-tier teams in both Spain, in La Liga and Cope del Rey competitions, as well as in European play in the Champions League competition.
If Atletico is able to hold off Barcelona, it will be a huge underdog story. They've been a good team for a while, but to beat the team coming off a year in which they won five major trophies, it would be a shocking turn of events and could shake up Spanish and European football.
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