Atletico Madrid had entered the afternoon level on points and goal difference with Villarreal, knowing a draw would be enough to secure the podium finish that guarantees Champions League football without the preliminary rounds. Instead, they conceded five times — four of them before half-time — in the most damaging manner Simeone has presided over in 800 matches as head coach.
Dani Parejo opened the scoring from the penalty spot, Ayoze Pérez scored twice, and goals from Georges Mikautadze and Pape Gueye completed the rout. Marc Pubill pulled one back with a header from Griezmann's corner just before the break, but it was cosmetic. The 34-year-old, who joins Orlando City SC this summer, ended his time at the club with the one stat that mattered most against him.
Simeone was direct in his assessment.
"We didn't respond at any moment to the match we needed to play. We weren't at the required level to finish third. We made an enormous effort all season — but against Arsenal, the match against Celta was the best we played, we should have won it.
"Against Osasuna they missed a lot and we won, against Girona the same, but this time they didn't miss — everything they had went in. It makes me alert."
He acknowledged the structural problem in the league.
"We've got used to arriving every year in that place — third or fourth — that gives us the Champions League. But be careful. Real Sociedad and Athletic will be strong again, as they have been for a long time. It's not easy."
The result leaves Atletico Madrid fourth — their lowest LaLiga finish under Simeone — and 25 points behind champions Barcelona. It is also the first time in the Argentine's 15-year tenure at the club that they have ended the season outside the top three.
On Griezmann: "When the season started, neither he nor I imagined he would play as much as he did. But Cardoso got injured, then Barrios, and Koke took on that role in the best way possible, as he always does. We need him."
He closed with a note of hope for the season ahead, and a recognition that the work of rebuilding has barely started.