You might have noticed that Atletico de Madrid aren’t doing too well to start the 2025/26 season.
After a summer transfer binge saw them splurge €176 million on eight new players, Atlético find themselves one point above the relegation zone, having racked up two points from three games. Diego Simeone’s side began the season by relinquishing an early lead and losing 2-1 at Espanyol, before breaking the deadlock
within eight minutes vs. newly promoted Elche, only to concede within seven minutes in a 1-1 draw at home.
Having opened the season by lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, Simeone switched to his tried-and-trusted 4-4-2 formation for the Elche game, with Alexander Sørloth pairing Julián Alvarez in attack and grabbing the opening goal. The Argentine manager ditched Matteo Ruggeri for Clément Lenglet in defense for the third match at Deportivo Alaves, but he nevertheless persisted with Alvarez and Sørloth up top. This time, however, the Norwegian striker failed to make his presence felt, mustering just one shot and 24 touches, completing nine out of 16 passes, and losing possession 11 times. Worse, however, were his contributions off the ball: Sørloth won just one out of eight ground duels and committed five fouls.
Atleti opened the scoring for the third match in a row as Giuliano Simeone gave the visitors an early lead in the seventh minute. But once again, they quickly let their lead slip away after Sørloth fouled Nahuel Tenaglia in the box, allowing Carlos Vicente to strike home from the penalty spot in the 14th minute. The Colchoneros now have to regroup and find a way to escape their worst start to a season since 2009 — and there’s reason to believe that Sørloth’s starting spot could be in jeopardy as they brace for their first two matches out of the international break, which will see them face Villarreal and Liverpool.
It was at Villarreal where Sørloth announced himself as one of the best strikers in Spain, coming within inches of the 2023/24 Pichichi award and prompting Atlético to sign him for €32 million. In order to free up space in their squad for Sørloth, Atleti decided to sell Samu Aghehowa to Porto, one year after purchasing him from Granada. Where Aghehowa scored 19 goals and 3 assists in 30 Liga Portugal appearances, and 6 goals in 9 UEFA Europa League appearances, Sørloth racked up 20 goals and 2 assists in 35 LaLiga appearances, as well as 4 goals in 7 Copa del Rey matches.
However, Sørloth was unable to translate his form onto the continental level. He failed to make a single goal contribution in any of his 8 Champions League matches, and unlike Aghehowa — who scored 2 goals in 3 FIFA Club World Cup matches — Sørloth failed to score in any of his 3 matches in North America, as Atleti crashed out at the group stage.
Aghehowa (21) continues staking his claim as one of the top strikers in Europe; Sørloth’s (29) stock is dropping with every ill-advised challenge and every missed opportunity.
Time is not exactly on øorloth’s side as he looks to earn a contract extension past its current due date of 2028. He’ll be looking to shake off his recent woes in front of goal and enjoy a change of scenery back in his homeland, with Norway set to take on Finland in a friendly match and Moldova in a World Cup qualifier, before he returns to the Spanish capital and tries to help Atleti finally get their season up and running, so they can challenge Real Madrid and FC Barcelona for the league title.
“In every single game, win, lose, or draw, you know you’ve been in a game with Atlético,” stated retired Premier League striker Gordon ‘Flash’ Watson. “Barcelona are head and shoulders above everyone else, but I think Atlético could finish above Real Madrid, because Real Madrid have defensive deficiencies in that they have to score maybe 3 or 4 goals to go and win a game. I’m a Simeone fan because he’s always like an underdog when he comes up against the big teams, and last year I was close to expecting them to have a deep run in the Champions League.”
If any of this is going to happen for Atlético this season, they’ll need Alexander Sorloth to step his game up.
