Yes, Atletico Madrid is fairly well place in the table but no better than Barcelona, and to lead the league title next season I think Diego Simeone's squad is still under Xavi's team in some ways.
I don't see anything special about Atletico Madrid this season because they are indeed one of the favorites in the top four so nothing is different if we look at previous seasons
come on you can't compare Atletico Madrid with Barcelona, you're really making a wrong comparison
let's say that there are two strong teams, in my opinion, Real Madrid and Barcelona, the others have to fight to get into the Champions League
no one can aspire to first place in La Liga except those two at the moment
Comparing Real Madrid and Barcelona to other teams in La Liga is silly. Other La Liga teams probably don't spend half as much money as Barcelona and Real Madrid spend on building their squads. And so we cannot compare Barcelona with Atletico Madrid. Atlético Madrid tries to build a stable squad with less money. And I would say they are quite successful. The team has managed to finish in the top four of the points table in every season. We see quite a few good performances from Atletico Madrid every season.