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Alex Kirkland, ESPN FC
Atlético Madrid president Enrique Cerezo has backed his staff to win LaLiga this season, as they go into 2025 prime of the desk, forward of rivals Actual Madrid and Barcelona.
Atlético start the brand new yr as league leaders, on 41 factors from 18 video games — some extent forward of Actual and three factors away from Barça, who they beat 2-1 in a dramatic, added-time victory on Dec. 21.
The LaLiga membership — who’ve gained the title twice below coach Diego Simeone, in 2014 and 2021 — invested closely in final summer time’s switch market, signing Julián Álvarez, Conor Gallagher, Robin Le Normand and Alexander Sørloth to spice up their title possibilities.
“It is not the primary time that we’re prime, and it will not be the final,” Cerezo stated in an interview with the newspaper Marca on Tuesday. “Ending the yr in first place, and fascinated by how the staff and the followers are, provides us the assumption to maintain going.
“We at all times end within the prime three. Probably the most troublesome years have been the years the place we have ended up as champions. This yr, we have now all the chances on this planet of being champions.”
Atlético began the season slowly, however have now gained 12 consecutive video games in all competitions, together with that 2-1 away win towards Barça at Montjuïc, with Sørloth scoring the decisive objective within the 96th-minute.
“We imagine our staff must be among the many prime three: first, second or third,” Cerezo stated. “Final yr, we completed fourth. Considered one of our targets is to be within the Champions League, and we have performed it for the final 13 years. There aren’t many groups in Europe which have achieved that, and we’re certainly one of them. The whole lot is feasible.”
Atlético begin 2025 by visiting Marbella within the Copa del Rey third spherical on Saturday, after which internet hosting Osasuna in LaLiga on Jan. 12.
