A crisis looms for Atletico Madrid - and there's only one way to prevent it

There was a moment in the second half of Atletico Madrid’s sad capitulation on Tuesday night when Real Madrid substitute Alvaro Morata ran past Diego Simeone on the touchline and the Argentine coach said something to him which made him turn his head and smile.

Simeone covered his mouth with his hand but it seems the phrase uttered was ‘vente conmigo’ – basically: ‘come and play for me’.

Morata – the player with the second best goals per games ratio in Spain behind Leo Messi – was not used by Zinedine Zidane. How Simeone would have loved to have been able to bring on the 24-year-old current Spain centre-forward. Instead he had to make do with the 33-year-old former Spain centre-forward Fernando Torres.

Last summer when Simeone was asked which striker he wanted to bring to the Vicente Calderon to play alongside Antoine Griezmann, Morata was one of three names he put forward. But just like Edinson Cavani and Diego Costa, Atletico Madrid could not make the deal happen and Simeone had to go further down his wish-list until he got to a player that the club could afford to bring in: Kevin Gameiro.

The former Sevilla striker is not in the same category as the other three. He was overlooked by France last summer ahead of the Euros. He falls short of the standard of striker that will help Atletico Madrid win a Champions League – something it looks increasingly like they might not manage under Simeone.

Winter is coming to the red-and-white half of Madrid. Only by somehow moving to another level in terms of their spending and recruitment can it be averted.

Let’s have a quick round of Family Fortunes to illustrate the point. Fingers on buzzers. Name something that makes Atletico special. Diego Simeone. Ding! Our survey said top answer.

Name something else that makes Atletico Madrid special. Antoine Griezmann. Ding! Second top answer. And something else? The Vicente Calderon, Spain’s most atmospheric stadium – a cauldron of noise in the heart of the city. Ding! Third top answer.

There is a chance that all three of those things – Simeone, Griezmann and the Calderon - will be gone soon. The stadium will definitely be history come the end of the season. Griezmann’s buy-out clause of €100m will not be enough to deter bids so it will come down to him to either accept or decline the invitation to move on. And Simeone knows he can take the Inter job pretty much when he pleases.

The stadium is the ace in the pack – the one thing that might just bring the whole house of cards tumbling down.

New stadiums are hard to grow into quickly. West Ham have not been the same animal this season in London Stadium as they were last year at Upton Park. There is no reason why Atletico uprooting and moving to the as yet soulless arena a 20-minute drive out of the city will be any different. And that’s 20 minutes on a good night - quite possibly double that on a match night, which will be no fun for the fans when some games end at 10.30pm on a Sunday.

The Calderon is what gives Atletico much of their hard edge; no one likes playing there. It’s very much their home and visitors are not made to feel comfortable. The ‘Wanda Metropolitano’ will, for a few years at least, have a neutral feel to it. It will be the same for both sides. The Calderon is often worth a goal’s start. That will be lost.

Its 67,000 capacity will give the club greater match-day revenue potential but the old identity will be gone. What if Simeone follows a season later when his contract ends? What if Greizmann has already been told by the coach he adores: ‘go son, spread your wings, take your chance while you can’?

The key for Atletico over the summer – and they will need to successfully argue down their transfer ban first – is to compensate for the loss of stadium and avert the potential loss of Simeone and Griezmann by investing in the team like they have never done before. Simeone has fed the five-thousand with a few loaves and fishes for long enough, it’s time to give him the same fully stocked storeroom as is enjoyed by Zinedine Zidane.

On Tuesday night his team had three players in it who would have stood a chance of making the Real Madrid starting line-up. Beyond Griezmann, Diego Godin and Jan Oblak they were man-for-man inferior.

No one expects them to go to the Real Madrid’s level of having €80m worth of James Rodriguez on the bench, but why not have €80m worth of Rodriguez on the pitch?

Football wants to see Simeone given the chance to beat the best in Europe, fighting with the same resources. If Atletico don’t give him those resources then he may find them elsewhere and that would be shame for all, and most of all for the Atletico faithful whose support deserves a Champions League success.