Era of Barcelona and Real Madrid dominance is over, suggests Simeone

Diego Simeone believes the period of Barcelona and Real Madrid dominating LaLiga finished with the ends of their respective ‘MSN’ and ‘BBC’ eras.

Atletico Madrid battled to a slender 1-0 win at home to Osasuna on Saturday, with Felipe getting the decisive goal in the 87th minute.

The result moved them back to within a point of Real Madrid, though they have a game in hand, while Sevilla and Real Sociedad are just one point better off at the summit.

Osasuna pushed Atletico all the way and Simeone felt this was prime evidence of LaLiga’s competitiveness, convinced the day’s of the ‘big two’ are over.

“It demanded a lot from us because LaLiga is very competitive,” Simeone told reporters. “There isn’t much difference [in quality between all teams].

“The Barca of the MSN era and the Madrid of the BBC era have passed. Now LaLiga is very competitive for everyone.”

For a while it looked as though Atletico were going to be frustrated by Osasuna, who almost clung on for a point.

Stealing the win at the end felt good for Mario Hermoso, who believed getting a positive result ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Milan, as Atletico could have their knockout-phase hopes ended if they lose.

“These victories taste different,” the defender added. “When you go on and on, insisting on what you believe in, on what the coach wants, on what we trust and work on during the week, sooner or later the time ends.

“What better way than to do it with that goal at that moment with the push of the fans and especially ahead of the ‘final’ that we have on Wednesday.”