They are the blue-collar workers carved in a granite image of their hard-nosed manager, Diego Simeone.
But if the saying that styles make fights rings true from the boxing world, then we can expect a fascinating game when Liverpool visit Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night.
For the Reds, it is a return to the scene of their finest hour under Jurgen Klopp. The Wanda Metropolitano will always hold special memories of an iconic night in the club's history.
It was back in June when Klopp's side picked up their first piece of silverware under his guidance as they saw off Tottenham in the Champions League final, but their second trip to the venue will be in much different circumstances.
There will be no time for wistful recollections when the Reds resume their European campaign in Spain. "Business as usual," was Jordan Henderson's succinct summary.
As Liverpool aim to become just the second team to defend the Champions League in its current guise, Atleti stand at somewhat of a crossroads under their battle-hardened boss, Simeone.
The man nicknamed 'El Cholo' has long held a reputation as one of the game's most fearsome competitors on the touchline, barking orders and taking no prisoners for anyone who dares approach his technical area.
Simeone was the mastermind behind a first La Liga title for Los Rojiblancos in 18 years when he took down the established order of Real Madrid and Barcelona in May 2014. The Argentinean firebrand was minutes away from a Champions League win later that month, too, only to be heart-breakingly denied by their famous neighbours, Real Madrid in Portugal.
Six years on, Simeone has lost none of the fire in his belly - making his impending collision with Klopp essential viewing on Tuesday night - but he has started to oversee something of cultural revolution since the Vicente Calderon was closed for the all-new Wanda.
The likes of Gabi, Diego Godin and Juanfran - mainstays of a team that fought its way to Champions League finals in 2014 and 2016 - are gone, making way for fresher faces, while Simeone has attempted to add some stardust to the pragmatic cynicism of players like the combative Diego Costa.
Breaking with a tradition that has seen them work almost eternally in the shadow of their aristocratic neighbours, Atletico splurged an eye-watering £113million on teenage sensation Joao Felix back last summer.
Alongside players such as Yannick Carrasco and Thomas Lemar, Felix adds more than splash of imagination and invention to the functional forward play of Alvaro Morata, who returned from injury in Friday's 2-2 draw with Valencia.
Felix, though, will be unavailable to Simeone on Tuesday night, after being struck down by a virus.
Follow LIVE build-up as Liverpool get ready to face Atletico Madrid HERE
That deadlock at the Mestalla last week, took Simeone's men up to just 25 league goals for the La Liga campaign. That may be a stumbling block as they attempt to best a Liverpool side that have conceded just once in 990 minutes of football.
Joe Gomez, in-form and revitalised, has been instrumental to that incredible run alongside the world's best centre-back in Virgil van Dijk. He, like many, is expecting a war of attrition when the Reds return to the Spanish capital on Tuesday night.
"The same way Atletico are passionate, we will be too," Gomez told the ECHO ahead of the game. "It will be an interesting game because I suppose we both match in the way we are both intense sides.
"I am sure that will create a fiery game and an intense one. We are looking forward to it. It is another game to go for."
Despite his ploy to try and move his side away from the street-fighting nature of the last five years, Simeone, at his core, is the same teak-tough warrior whose gamesmanship helped see David Beckham sent off in the 1998 World Cup in France.
After seeing Real Madrid's Federico Valverde commit the most obvious of cynical and professional fouls in a derby defeat last month, Simeone decided against condemning his opposition for the appalling hacking down of Morata, who had gone clean through on goal.
"I think the award for the best player makes perfect sense because Valverde won the game with that action," was Simeone's reaction, post match. "It was the most important play of the game. If the play continued, it was possibly a goal."
Real Madrid would go on to win the penalty shootout after Valverde's red card, but Simeone's sympathetic stance was indicative of a man who refuses to deviate entirely from his football principles.
Which is exactly why Klopp and his Liverpool players must brace themselves for an almighty scrap on their return to Wanda this week.
