(Football news) Atletico Madrid last week were eliminated from the Champions League after their draw against Bayer Leverkusen. Now a week later their embarrassment has worsened as the loss against Porto has meant that they haven't even secured Europa League qualification. Bayer Leverkusen yesterday drew against Club Brugge which put them level on points with Atletico Madrid. A superior head to head record meant that it was Leverkusen who made it to the Europa League and not Atlético. This is definitely a new low for Atletico Madrid as it is for the first time since 2009 that Atlético Madrid are not into the European knockouts, which was before Diego Simeone.

Simeone started the game against Porto in a 3-4-3 formation instead of his regular 4-4-2 or 3-5-2. Joao Felix was given a rare start after his amazing cameo in the league on the weekend. Alvaro Morata and Yannick Carrasco were benched for the clash. Porto took the lead inside 5 minutes via Mehdi Taremi and 19 minutes later doubled their lead thanks to Stephen Eustaquio. Atleti tried to get back into the game but in the end could only manage to get one back that too with almost the last kick of the game via an own goal. With the win FC Porto ended up finishing top of the group despite losing their first two games of the group stage.

The Rojiblancos are all over the place this season and Simeone seems to be losing the team. It is pretty evident that the Argentine manager is trying to change things constantly with different formations. Simeone has been the manager of Atletico Madrid since 2011 during which time he has been successful. He is currently the highest paid manager in world football but it seems like his time is coming to an end. Simeone's current deal ends in 2024 and it looks unlikely that he will get a new contract. He could get the sack if things get worse or he could leave at the end of this season on mutual consent. Either way Atletico Madrid need a change as Simeone may have taken the club as far as he can.

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