Atleti is the Real "Madrid"

What a year 2014 has been for the city of Madrid!

With Barcelona finally out of the picture, the once routine Madrid derby has become a titanic battle for dominance in Spain and in Europe. Atletico Madrid have come out of their shell and really troubled their cross-town rivals.

Wait - "troubled" might be a euphemism. They’ve knackered them.

The moment Jose Mourinho left the club in that most fiery of circumstances, with a bitter exit at the hands of Diego Simeone’ resilient side, the natural order of things changed. That was the first time in 25 matches that the smaller side of Madrid had overcome their loathed rivals. Not only did it signal the end of Real’s derby dominance, it also heralded the beginning of Atletico’s demolition of the Spanish duopoly.

Since last season, they have beaten their more illustrious opponents in the Super Cup, the league and even took the title from their biggest rivals, Barcelona! Carlo Ancelotti, Cristiano Ronaldo and Florentino Perez watched as Diego Simeone did what they had spent hundreds of millions of pounds doing - derailing Lionel Messi’s Barcelona side. It would have been one of the club’s worst seasons if Sergio Ramos had not completely turned the table with a 95th minute header to set their rivals straight.

To the Atleti fans, that stung even worse than their countless derby defeats - they had given Real Madrid La Decima at the expense of their first European title.

But as ever, they dusted themselves off and continued their grinding rise to prominence, and paid Real back with a Super Cup victory over two legs, before Arda Turan netted the goal that sealed their dominance in the bitter contests that 2013 and 2014 have witnessed.

Where was their feisty manager in all of this? Sitting high up in the director’s box due to a ban he received in - wait for it! - a Madrid derby.

At least one other country will be watching the goings-on in Spain with much interest. After all, both Real Madrid and Barcelona have (or recently sold) fabulous Argentines on their roster. When Atletico Madrid brought in their very own, they suddenly rose to the top. No prizes for guessing which national team was in the World Cup final, then.

Despite the grating and sometimes unattractive nature of their football (even with a fabulous set of players in Koke and Arda Turan), Atleti fans can now justifiably call themselves one of Europe’s biggest clubs again.

Even worse, Real have kept faltering, while the Rojiblanco keep striding towards domestic supremacy. If they are to win the league again, Carlo Ancelotti will surely have his bags packed for him.

Another multi-million pound investment will have to be made.

Another superstar player will be sold to fund another era of Galacticos.

And another trophy will sit smugly on the lap of the new king of Madrid, Diego Simeone.