Koke in Top Form Gives Atletico Madrid Chance of Liga, Champions League Double

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Against the odds, Atletico Madrid ^[1] have done it: They made back up the ground on Barcelona at the top of the table and, with five Liga games remaining, are off top spot only on head-to-head ruling. The title race in La Liga is wide open, with Real Madrid ^[2] just a point further back, while Los Colc honeros also upset the favourites in Europe, beating Barcelona over two legs in the UEFA Champions League.

Diego Simeone's team will be hugely confident of their chances of heading into the last month of the campaign with a big chance of lifting one piece of silverware, but with their main domestic rival floundering after just one win in six and out of the way in Europe too, there's every chance of them making it a memorable double.

A big part of the reason for their own resurgence and ability to make up the ground at the top has been the form of Koke, with the Spanish midfielder hitting his very best level over the last couple of months, and he can inspire Los Rojiblancos to go all the way. The homegrown star was in fantastic form once more against Granada ^[3] on Sunday, scoring and creating en route to a 3-0 win.

Split season

It hasn't been an entirely wonderful year for Koke, who struggled with form earlier on in the campaign.

While he had been expected to make an eventual transition to central midfield from the flanks, the form of the Gabi-Tiago partnership meant there was no initial need for it, especially while Koke was for a brief time the regularly substituted midfield option as he failed to impact on games. A short injury and a few frustrating performances meant it took time for him to be fully playing his big part on this new-look side, no doubt in part to having new attacking team-mates to learn the runs of and work alongside.

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Koke was certainly improving over the middle third but was overshadowed by Saul, who came into the team and bossed the engine room, both centrally and from the wide areas.

The younger Spanish midfielder has visibly tired at times in the past few games, though—allowing Koke to shine even more. It has now been around three months with the No. 6 in genuinely excellent form, and he has had much to do with Atletico's best results in that time.

It's no coincidence that he has featured in central midfield more over the last six weeks or so than he had for the rest of the season combined; now is when he's impacting on the team most positively, and Simeone has recognised that and exploited it.

Mutually beneficial

The Koke-Antoine Griezmann partnership last season was a great one for Atleti fans to witness, as they often combined down the left channel, but over the past month or two, it has been a different striker reaping the benefits of Koke's brilliance: Fernando Torres ^[4].

Atleti's on-loan No. 9 is, of course, chasing a new contract, hoping to stay at the club, and he is certainly doing his best to prove he merits one: six goals in his last nine games in La Liga, plus one against Barcelona in Europe.

Of those seven goals, four were assisted by Koke.

Koke has been involved in more goals than any other midfielder in the Liga in 2015/16 (5 goals, 12 assists). #UCL pic.twitter.com/FDpbZuXgeD ^[5]^[6]
— Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) April 17, 2016 ^[7]

The duo have developed a strong relationship as their natural traits merge centrally: Koke's incisive through passes and Torres' habit of making early runs between and beyond defenders. Add in Torres assisting Koke on the midfielder's two recent goals against Granada on Sunday and Espanyol last week, and the link-up is clear as they run off each other and anticipate the early release of the ball.

Double challenge

Domestically, Atletico (and Real, for that matter) are still relying on another slip-up by Barcelona. The Catalan club have not won any of their run of four tough games in a row, but they will still win La Liga if they win their remaining five games. That's not a given, but nor is it that the capital city sides will also finish with a 100 percent record.

Athletic Club will provide tough opposition for Atletico, though the absence of Aritz Aduriz and Aymeric Laporte at either end of the pitch will be noticeable. After that, it's Malaga and Rayo Vallecano ^[8] at home, both winnable, relegation-threatened Levante ^[9] away and a home game against Celta Vigo to finish. The latter is usually a tough fixture, but Celta's season could be effectively over already by that point if they have secured sixth place.

In Europe, it's a different matter; Bayern Munich present formidable opposition, but after beating reigning champions Barcelona, Atletico will fear nobody.

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They will again look to Koke for success; quite aside from his work rate and ability to shut down opposing attacks, he is the best midfielder in the team at helping sustain and switch possession. There's also the matter of Bayern's own weak links to exploit: in previous campaigns and very nearly against Juventus ^[10] this year, the diagonal pass from deep into the channels is what has undone the German side.

With Griezmann, Torres or Yannick Carrasco to aim for on the run, Koke will be asked to repeatedly find these out-balls both to relieve pressure and spark Atletico's own chances to create goalscoring opportunities.

It will be an exciting, though extremely tough, end to the campaign, and, of course, Atletico could still end up with nothing at all. With Koke in top form, though, and with the mental resilience the side possesses overall, don't bet against them walking away with at least one piece of silverware to show for their excellent campaign, and quite possibly both.

Follow @karlmatchett ^[11]