The Atlético players left on vacation as soon as they arrived in Madrid last Friday the 14th after the hit against Leipzig. Crestfallen and hurt by the 2-1 victory against Leipzig, Simeone said goodbye to the squad one by one when the players went home. Atlético will return to work on Thursday, September 3. The footballers will have, in this way, three weeks of vacation, to disconnect and recharge their batteries before starting the new season. On the 4th, 5th and 6th the team will pass the relevant medical checks at the start of the campaign.
From then on another three weeks of vacation, since Atlético will not debut in the championship on the weekend of 12-13 but on 26-27. The sports management is studying the preseason in detail right now and the possibility of the team going up to Los Angeles de San Rafael for a week, usual place of concentration of the Madrid team. Simeone's intention is to be able to play two friendly matches before the start of LaLiga, one on the 15th and the other on the 19th.
As everything has been planned, there will be three weeks of rest and three of work to start the championship to the fullest. Footballers, as it happens every year, have taken a work plan to develop during the holidays. And deep down, also, a concern, that the staff return in the best possible conditions and without positives for COVID-19. Everyone in the coaching staff knows that it has been a very long season, very special, with a long break in between, and the preseason can also be something different from the others, especially for the dates. The positive is that there will be very few changes in the team and that new ones arrived this year and they already know the Cholo way of working.