The Athletic website stated that Atletico Madrid was ambitious before participating in the Club World Cup, but the result was that the Club World Cup journey was like a horror movie for Atletico Madrid. The article stated that before the start of the Club World Cup, Atletico Madrid specifically requested FIFA to provide detailed introduction and explanation of Atletico Madrid's participation bonuses, and asked FIFA to estimate how much Real Madrid's revenue would be.
After the restructuring of the Club World Cup, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid are the only two La Liga teams. Atletico Madrid is proud of this, especially defeating Barcelona and winning the Club World Cup ticket, proving that Atletico Madrid is one of the European giants.
Therefore, Atletico Madrid attaches great importance to the Club World Cup. Both the club chairman and CEO participated in the lottery ceremony. They regard the Club World Cup as an excellent opportunity to earn huge bonuses and expand the US market.
However, after arriving in the United States, Atletico Madrid's Club World Cup journey began to be unsuccessful. First, the team's training ground was under the protests, with sirens and noise from helicopter propellers everywhere, even at night.
In the first match against Paris, Atletico Madrid was obviously lacking in vitality and was completely suppressed by its opponents. The hot weather also made Atletico Madrid sluggish, and eventually fell into a collapse and suffered a crushing defeat of 0-4.
Atletico Madrid midfielder Marcos Llorente said after the game: "It's too hot, it's impossible to play well. My toes are hurting, and it's difficult to change speed while running." After losing, Atletico Madrid's time to recover and adjust, because they also have to participate in various commercial, publicity and marketing activities in the United States, such as the "Atletico Home" fan meeting, the shooting of jersey promotional photos of the new season, etc. In the second round of the group stage, Atletico Madrid successfully defeated the Seattle Bayers 3-1, and their morale was greatly boosted, but on the way back to the training ground, Los Angeles, the whole team was very surprised because they received a report that Paris lost 0-1 to Bottafogo.
This means that Atletico Madrid must win three goals against South American Liberators Cup champion Bottafogo in the final round of the group stage to advance to the knockout stage.
Atletico Madrid had a difficult time playing against Botafogo. Before the end of the first half, Alvarez created a penalty kick, but after VAR review, Botafogo was awarded a free kick opportunity. In the end, Griezmann, who came on as a substitute, scored 1-0 in the 87th minute, Atletico Madrid defeated Bottafogo 1-0, but the goals were too late and too few. The big score loss in the first round made Atletico Madrid pay the huge price of being eliminated in the group.
In the 2024-25 season, Atletico Madrid lost to Real Madrid in the Champions League, lagging behind Barcelona and Real Madrid in La Liga. The King's Cup was eliminated by Barcelona, so Simone was eager to strengthen the lineup.
The bed sheet army has introduced Lenglet for free, and is also interested in purchasing Real Betis midfielder Cardoso, Tottenham center back Romero, and Villarreal midfielder Baena. The value of these three signing targets is not low, which is another reason why Atletico Madrid feels sad for the early exit of the Club World Cup.
Atletico Madrid will receive a prize of about 30 million euros from FIFA, plus a prize of 4 million euros for group matches (2 wins and 1 loss), a total of 34 million euros.
For Atletico Madrid, which has 6 World Cup champions, it is not unpopular even if it reaches the semi-finals of the Club World Cup. This means that Atletico Madrid would have earned 40 million euros, which is not considered the sponsor's bonus.
Atletico Madrid's early elimination was caused by many factors, such as the protests in Los Angeles, the hot weather, the draw of lottery, Paris' surprise defeat to Bottafogo. More importantly, Atletico Madrid itself did not perform at its best. They lost to Paris with a big score, and did not create too many scoring opportunities in the life-and-death battle against Bottafogo.
Atletico Madrid once hoped that the Club World Cup journey would be as exciting as a Hollywood blockbuster, but in terms of experience and results, it was more like a horror movie.
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