# 2005–06 Atlético Madrid season

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.
Atletico 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, Atletico 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 | Date of birth (age) | Signed from |
| GK |||||
| 23 | Leo Franco | (1977-05-20)20 May 1977 (aged 28) | Mallorca |
| 1 | Iván Cuéllar | (1984-05-27)27 May 1984 (aged 21) | Atletico Madrid Academy |
| 33 | Roberto | (1986-02-10)10 February 1986 (aged 19) | Atletico Madrid Academy |
| 30 | Ismael Falcón | (1984-04-24)24 April 1984 (aged 21) | Cadiz |
| DF |||||
| 21 | Luis Perea | (1979-01-30)30 January 1979 (aged 26) | Boca Juniors |
| 22 | Pablo Ibáñez | (1981-08-03)3 August 1981 (aged 24) | Albacete Balompié |
| 5 | García Calvo | (1975-04-01)1 April 1975 (aged 30) | Real Valladolid |
| 31 | Mario Suárez | (1987-02-24)24 February 1987 (aged 18) | Mallorca |
| 27 | Pablo Sicilia | (1981-09-10)10 September 1981 (aged 24) | Vecindario |
| 2 | Antonio López | (1981-09-13)13 September 1981 (aged 24) | Osasuna |
| 3 | Juan Velasco | (1977-05-17)17 May 1977 (aged 28) | Celta Vigo |
| 18 | Juan Valera | (1984-12-21)21 December 1984 (aged 21) | Real Murcia |
| 15 | Francisco Molinero | (1985-07-26)26 July 1985 (aged 20) | Atletico Madrid Academy |
| 31 | Antonio Moreno | (1983-02-13)13 February 1983 (aged 22) | Atletico Madrid Academy |
| 38 | Julián Vara | (1983-11-17)17 November 1983 (aged 22) | Atletico Madrid Academy |
| MF |||||
| 23 | Peter Luccin | (1979-04-09)9 April 1979 (aged 26) | Celta Vigo |
| 4 | Gonzalo Colsa | (1979-04-02)2 April 1979 (aged 26) | Racing Santander |
| 6 | José Zahínos | (1977-12-01)1 December 1977 (aged 28) | Atletico Madrid Academy |
| 20 | Gabi | (1983-07-10)10 July 1983 (aged 22) | Atletico Madrid Academy |
| 8 | Ariel Ibagaza | (1976-10-27)27 October 1976 (aged 29) | Mallorca |
| FW |||||
| 17 | Martin Petrov | (1979-01-15)15 January 1979 (aged 26) | Wolfsburg |
| 11 | Maxi Rodríguez | (1981-01-02)2 January 1981 (aged 24) | Espanyol |
| 7 | Luciano Galletti | (1984-12-04)4 December 1984 (aged 21) | Zaragoza |
| 37 | Fernando Marqués | (1981-01-02)2 January 1981 (aged 24) | Racing Santander |
| 9 | Fernando Torres | (1984-03-20)20 March 1984 (aged 21) | Atletico Madrid Academy |
| 10 | Mateja Kezman | (1979-04-12)12 April 1979 (aged 26) | Chelsea |
| 14 | Javier Arizmendi | (1984-03-03)3 March 1984 (aged 21) | Atletico Madrid Academy |
| 26 | Braulio Nóbrega | (1985-09-18)18 September 1985 (aged 20) | Atletico Madrid Academy |
| 28 | Manu del Moral | (1984-02-25)25 February 1984 (aged 21) | Atletico Madrid Academy |
| 40 | Rufino Segovia | (1985-03-01)1 March 1985 (aged 20) | Rayo Vallecano |

## Transfers
### In

| Pos. | No. | Player | From | Fee |
| FW | 17 | Martin Petrov | Wolfsburg | £8,700,000 |
| FW | 10 | Mateja Kezman | Chelsea | £7,800,000 |
| FW | 11 | Maxi Rodríguez | Espanyol | £4,300,000 |
| FW | 7 | Luciano Galletti | Zaragoza | £2,200,000 |
| DF | 18 | Juan Valera | Real Murcia | Free Transfer |

### Out

| Pos. | No. | Player | To | Fee |
| FW | 11 | Jesper Grønkjær | Stuttgart | £2,600,000 |
| FW | 14 | Javier Arizmendi | Deportivo La Coruna | £1,700,000 |
| FW | 8 | Richard Núñez | Cruz Azul | Free Transfer |
| FW | 20 | Veljko Paunovic | Getafe | Free Transfer |
| DF | 6 | Santi Denia | Albacete Balompie | Free Transfer |
| DF | 2 | Cosmin Contra | Getafe | Free Transfer |
| GK | 1 | Sergio Sánchez | Hércules CF | Free Transfer |
| DF | 15 | Carlos Aguilera | Retired | None |
| DF | 12 | Sergi Barjuán | Retired | None |

### Loans Out

| Pos. | No. | Player | To | Fee |
| FW | 8 | Kiki Musampa | Manchester City | None |
| MF | 10 | Jorge Larena | Celta Vigo | None |
| MF | 7 | Marcelo Sosa | Osasuna | None |
| FW | 28 | Toché | Hércules | None |
| FW | 26 | Braulio Nóbrega | Mallorca | None |
| MF | 29 | Raúl Medina | Ciudad de Murcia | None |

## Competitions
### La Liga
#### Table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 8 | Deportivo La Coruña | 38 | 15 | 10 | 13 | 47 | 45 | +2 | 55 |
| 9 | Getafe | 38 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 54 | 49 | +5 | 54 |
| 10 | Atlético Madrid | 38 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 45 | 37 | +8 | 52 |
| 11 | Zaragoza | 38 | 10 | 16 | 12 | 46 | 51 | −5 | 46 |
| 12 | Athletic Bilbao | 38 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 40 | 46 | −6 | 45 |

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H |
| Result | D | L | W | L | L | W | L | W | W | D | D | L | D | D | D | D | L | D | L | W | W | W | W | W | W | L | W | D | L | D | L | D | W | W | L | L | D | D |
| Position | 8 | 17 | 7 | 18 | 18 | 7 | 10 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Points | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 23 | 26 | 29 | 32 | 35 | 38 | 38 | 41 | 42 | 42 | 43 | 43 | 44 | 47 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 51 | 52 |

#### Matches

Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

## Statistics
### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | La Liga | Copa del Rey | Total |
| 1 | Fernando Torres | 13 | 0 | 13 |
| 2 | Maxi Rodríguez | 10 | 1 | 11 |
| 3 | Mateja Kežman | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| 4 | Antonio López | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | Luciano Galletti | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 5 | Juan Valera | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | Pablo Ibáñez | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | Peter Luccin | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | Gonzalo Colsa | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Zahínos | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Martin Petrov | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Gabi | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Own goals | Own goals | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | Totals | 45 | 4 | 49 |