Why Diego Godin Is Atletico Madrid Player Most in Need of International Break

Atletico Madrid had been on a fantastic run of late—unbeaten through the last two months and having won every match in March—but a loss to Sporting Gijon at the weekend seems to have effectively killed off their title hopes in La Liga.

Los Rojiblancos still have the UEFA Champions League in their sights, though they have arguably the hardest draw of all in the quarter-final, as they face an in-form Barcelona squad aiming to retain their own title.

Add in a few injuries and rivals Real Madrid moving to within a point of Atleti at the weekend, and the international break has probably come at a good time for manager Diego Simeone's team, with centre-back Diego Godin arguably the individual who will benefit most by the 10 days until the next round of Liga fixtures.

Down time

Simeone isn't exactly known for needlessly rotating his team, but he does do it on occasions. Even key players—such as Juanfran, Gabi or Antoine Griezmann—get taken out once in a while, but for Jan Oblak and Godin himself, the Copa del Rey is the only opportunity to rest.

Godin is not just first choice; he's an immovable part of the starting XI for any meaningful fixture. Unless he's sent off, he starts and finishes matches. Marca reported (in Spanish) that it was 126 league matches—well over three years—since the last time Godin was subbed, until he left injured against Real Sociedad at the start of March.

He has returned to play since then at home to Deportivo La Coruna and the home leg in Europe against PSV, but the subsequent strains suffered since then perhaps show he rushed back too quickly.

Godin is relentless in his style and his full-on approach to the game, and while he certainly won't want to have missed out on a single minute voluntarily, it might be that the three weeks out—as he now faces with a hamstring strain, per Marca—benefit him for the rest of the season and in the longer term.

Atleti's pillar

Atletico have built their success in recent seasons on the back of a strong and organised defence, a hard-working midfield and then an aggressive attack that combines tactical intelligence with pace, relentless closing down at times and a clinical edge.

The beginning of it all, though, is Godin. He holds everything together at the back and decides when to step up and when to drop off; he organises, cajoles and complains.

Bad enough that he should be out injured at all for Atletico, but they now face a real defensive crisis: Stefan Savic hasn't been seen since the first leg against PSV, and fellow centre-back Josema Gimenez pulled up lame—also a hamstring victim—against Sporting at the weekend. Simeone's team finished up the fixture with Saul alongside Lucas Hernandez in the centre of defence, which is a pairing with a total of three starts between them in that position in La Liga this season.

For the club as much as for the individual himself, the international break has come at a time to get at least one established senior back closer to full fitness, and if they aren't completely ready by the time the Real Betis match rolls around, at least they will have skipped one weekend without another tough game to prepare for without a defence in place.

Season-ending tie

From another point of view, the Betis game might not even be regarded as important any more. Barcelona's draw at the weekend increased their lead at the top to nine points, but it's effectively 10 due to the head-to-head ruling. The Catalan club have all but wrapped up the title at this stage, barring a run of disappointing results in their next three games.

Atletico will instead be thinking they have two fixtures left that matter this season: home and away legs against, of course, Barcelona themselves.

The Champions League is a competition that Simeone, Godin and Co. came extremely close to winning in 2014 and now looks like their only realistic chance of silverware this season—but they'll be doing it the hard way if it happens.

Played on April 5, the first leg takes place 21 days after Godin's last action, where he came off in the 90th minute against PSV.

It's a rush to get him back completely fit on time, but given what's at stake and the likely absence of Gimenez for the first leg, it's likely all or nothing for Atletico. The break comes at a good time for Godin, but he still has work to do to even play in the most important match of the season.

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