Atletico's defence recalls 1995/6 double-winning side

Atlético Madrid have reached the mid-point of the Liga BBVA season as the team with the fewest goals conceded and with a defensive record that puts them in the club's history books. The Rojiblanco defence has so far matched the achievements of that of the 1995/1996 season, when Radomir Antic guided the team to a Liga BBVA and Copa del Rey double.

Diego Pablo Simeone is the architect behind these superb defensive figures. The current Atlético boss wore the number 14 shirt in that historical season, and helped his team to keep a clean sheet in 12 of 19 games, numbers which have been equaled by his players this year. Jan Oblak, Juanfran Torres, José Giménez, Diego Godin and Filipe Luis are the defensive foundations upon which the team is built.

These five players are writing their names into the Atlético history books alongside those of Molina, Geli, Toni, Solozábal and Santi Denia, who were the defenders that Atletico fans can recite by heart, and who featured alonsgide players such as Pantic, Vizcaino, Penev, Kiko and Simeone himself.

The defensive solidity that has characterised the Rojiblancos since Simeone took over in 2012 helped them to lift their tenth Liga BBVA title in the 2013/2014 season.

That year, with Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Brazil defender Miranda in place of Oblak and Giménez, the team conceded 11 goals in the first half of the season when they finished second behind FC Barcelona at the mid-point of the campaign.