The highest-paid coach in world football is already under pressure after a disappointing start to the 2025-26 campaign
When Clement Lenglet came to face the press after Atletico Madrid had been cruelly knocked out of last season’s Champions League on penalties by city rivals Real, the Frenchman admitted that the team-mates he’d just left behind in the dressing room at the Metropolitanto were still in a “state of shock”.
However, despite the agonising nature of the last-16 elimination, Lenglet was defiant. Atleti had been the better side, winning 1-0 on the night to force a shootout that had effectively been decided by the ludicrous ‘double-touch’ rule that has since been changed, and he was quick to point out that Diego Simeone’s side still had a Copa del Rey semi-final second leg against Barcelona to look forward to.
“We produced a massive performance from start to finish,” the Frenchman told Movistar Plus. “I think we deserved [to win] as a team, a club, for the fans and their support, which helped us a lot. But we will handle the blow to our morale in the days ahead. We have a lot of work left to do, we have important things to play for; the season doesn’t end today.”
In a way, though, it did. Atletico never really recovered from their desperately unfortunate Champions League elimination. And they still haven’t, in fact.
Indeed, a club that once again spent big in the summer transfer window has made another slow start to their La Liga season, meaning questions are already being asked as to whether Atletico are really getting their money’s worth out of an expensively assembled squad and the world’s highest-paid coach…