The 2005–06 season was the 100th season in Atlético Madrid's history and their 69rd season in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football. It covers a period from 1 July 2005 to 30 June 2006.
Atlético Madrid failed to live up to the high expectations, in spite of the appointment of multiple Copa Libertadores-winning coach Carlos Bianchi. The defensive triangle of goalkeeper Leo Franco and central defenders Luis Perea and Pablo Ibáñez, all of which played a huge part in Atlético conceding only 31 goals. The defensive tactics left high-profile striker Fernando Torres alone up front, and despite having Maxi Rodríguez in support, the duo were the only players able to function offensively for the club, which responded with a €23 million signing of 18-year-old wonnderkid Sergio Agüero from Independiente.
Atlético had a rough start to the season, winning just one of their first 5 games. However, that game was against reigning La Liga champions Barcelona. After that, Atlético seemed to show some signs of revival with three wins in their next 6, but they did get humiliated 3-0 by Real Madrid at home. However they would then sustain their worst form of the season with 0 wins in 10 games, including losses against Celta Vigo, CA Osasuna and Real Betis, and their poor attack being exposed for all to see. Things improved significantly at the beginning of the second half of the season, going on a 5-game winning streak and impressively doing the double over Barcelona. That soon became false hope, with them winning just 3 times the rest of the season and finishing in a lowly 10th place.
The Copa del Rey brought no sense of improvement either. After iffy wins versus Las Palmas and Alcoyano in the third round and fourth round, both of whom were in the third tier of spanish football, Atlético then lost 3-2 on aggregate to Zaragoza. Despite a tiny bit of improvement from last season, it was an underwhelming season to forget.
Squad
No. Player Nationality Date of birth (age) Signed from GK 23 Leo Franco Mallorca 1 Iván Cuéllar Atlético Madrid Academy 33 Roberto Atlético Madrid Academy 30 Ismael Falcón CádizDF 21 Luis Perea Boca Juniors 22 Pablo Ibáñez Albacete Balompié 5 García Calvo Real Valladolid 31 Mario Suárez Mallorca 27 Pablo Sicilia Vecindario 2 Antonio López Osasuna 3 Juan Velasco Celta Vigo 18 Juan Valera Real Murcia 15 Francisco Molinero Atlético Madrid Academy 31 Antonio Moreno Atlético Madrid Academy 38 Julián Vara Atlético Madrid AcademyMF 23 Peter Luccin Celta Vigo 4 Gonzalo Colsa Racing Santander 6 José Zahínos Atlético Madrid Academy 20 Gabi Atlético Madrid Academy 8 Ariel Ibagaza MallorcaFW 17 Martin Petrov Wolfsburg 11 Maxi Rodríguez Espanyol 7 Luciano Galletti Zaragoza 37 Fernando Marqués Racing Santander 9 Fernando Torres Atlético Madrid Academy 10 Mateja Kežman Chelsea 14 Javier Arizmendi Atlético Madrid Academy 26 Braulio Nóbrega Atlético Madrid Academy 28 Manu del Moral Atlético Madrid Academy 40 Rufino Segovia Rayo Vallecano
Transfers
In
Pos.No.PlayerFromFeeRef.FW17 Martin Petrov Wolfsburg£8,700,000FW10 Mateja Kežman Chelsea£7,800,000FW11 Maxi Rodríguez Espanyol£4,300,000FW7 Luciano Galletti Zaragoza£2,200,000DF18 Juan Valera Real MurciaFree Transfer
Out
Pos.No.PlayerToFeeFW11 Jesper Grønkjær Stuttgart£2,600,000FW14 Javier Arizmendi Deportivo de La Coruña£1,700,000FW8 Richard Núñez Cruz AzulFree TransferFW20 Veljko Paunović GetafeFree TransferDF6 Santi Denia Albacete BalompieFree TransferDF2 Cosmin Contra GetafeFree TransferGK1 Sergio Sánchez Hércules CFFree TransferDF15 Carlos AguileraRetiredNoneDF12 Sergi BarjuánRetiredNone
Loans Out Pos.No.PlayerToFeeRef.FW8 Kiki Musampa Manchester CityNoneMF10 Jorge Larena Celta VigoNoneMF7 Marcelo Sosa OsasunaNoneFW28 Toché HérculesNoneFW26 Braulio Nóbrega MallorcaNoneMF29 Raúl Medina Ciudad de MurciaNone
Competitions
Pre-season
Copa del Rey
La Liga
Table
Results by round
Matches
Statistics Top scorers PlayerLa LigaCopa del ReyTotal1 Fernando Torres 13 0 132 Maxi Rodríguez 10 1 113 Mateja Kežman 8 2 104 Antonio López 3 0 35 Luciano Galletti 1 1 2 Juan Valera 2 0 2 Pablo Ibáñez 2 0 2 Peter Luccin 2 0 29 Gonzalo Colsa 1 0 1 Zahínos 1 0 1 Martin Petrov 1 0 1 Gabi 1 0 1Own goals000Totals45449
References