Falcao gathers Atlético flock

In South America, a very religious part of the world, piety is split fairly evenly between God and soccer. At Atlético Madrid's Vicente Calderón stadium on the banks of the Manzanares river, prayer is also common and divine requests varied; a goalkeeper, a defense, a coach to return the club to its former glories, or a forward to cast a warm glow over the pews of a perennial cathedral of mediocrity.

Those prayers have, in part, been answered in the shape of Radamel Falcao. The Colombian goal machine, who was worth almost a goal a game while at Porto, arrived in the summer for a club record fee and with a remit that on paper looked so tall an order that a basketball team would struggle to fulfill it; plugging the void left by Diego Forlán and Sergio Agüero's abandonment of a lurching ship. With five goals from three league games, and one in one in the Europa League, Falcao - named for the Brazilian World Cup-winning legend - has ignited Atlético's season. Two disallowed yet legitimate strikes in the space of a week would have seen Falcao stand alone atop the Liga scorer's chart, a position he currently shares with Valencia's Roberto Soldado and Barcelona's Lionel Messi.

Atlético travels to the Camp Nou home of reigning champion Barcelona on Saturday for what has become a per annum purgatory for the capital club. Last season Messi put Atlético to the sword single-handed, scoring three times in a win so routine for Pep Guardiola's side that the thin gaggle of traveling fans joined in the home supporters' Mexican wave toward the end of the game; it was more entertainment than Atlético had offered on the turf. The previous season the home side won 5-2. The season before that Barça stuck six past the visitor with Agüero grabbing a solitary strike that offered little in the way of consolation.

This time around, Atlético is daring to think the unthinkable: "I see the real possibility that Atlético will be the story in the papers on Monday and not just Falcao," the third-person aficionado said. "Our style of play is to keep the ball and that is Barça's strength so it will be a hard-fought game," the forward added.

Keeping the ball is a notion that Gregorio Manzano has instilled in his second coming at Atlético. With the rojiblanco's much-maligned defense also proving redoubtable thus far this season - it has conceded just one, fewer than any side in the division - the arrangement seems a match made in heaven.

Manzano recognizes there is no stiffer test than the best side in the world: "We have seen that, after four matches, it has not been a league of two," the veteran schemer said. "We want more teams to have a say in the league and it has to be believed that there are no invincible sides, despite the power that Real Madrid and Barcelona have. We know it will be difficult, but it is not impossible. If things go well for us and we are able to play the way we can, why not dream that the league can remain open for another week?"

After Atlético's 4-0 win over Sporting - the team's second consecutive victory by that score line - Falcao quoted the bible to sum up his impact on the match: "Because you have seen me, you believe; blessed are those that have not seen and yet have believed." For the time being, Atlético's long-suffering fans can do just that.