Goals from Nico Williams, Robert Navarro and Oihan Sancet saw Athletic Club shock Atlético de Madrid at San Mamés on Saturday evening.
Atlético mostly controlled play in the first half, but the Colchoneros — debuting their new change kit — were punched in the mouth immediately after halftime and never got off the mat in a 3-0 defeat.
Let’s get into the ratings from a rotten display in Bilbao, where Atleti have failed to score in three of their past four visits in LaLiga.
Oblak
Should have done better for Nico’s opener, he got a hand to his header but it functioned more like a turnstile. Couldn’t do much for Navarro’s goal, the product of poor individual and structural defending. More sloppy defending prefaced Sancet’s 90th-minute icing on the turd cake. 4
Llorente
Lost out to Nico on the goal inside 30 seconds of the second half. A key conduit in keeping possession, but Atleti built no moves because the attack was so static. 4
Pubill
Calm and authoritative despite the early chaos, but defended Nico’s goal miserably, caught merely ball-watching as Iñaki’s deflected shot sailed right past him. 4
Hancko
Unfortunate for Athletic’s opener, as he deflected Iñaki’s shot directly into Nico’s path. Caught out for the second goal, which highlighted his lack of recovery speed. His passing and ability to win individual duels are valuable traits, but he hasn’t done a great job covering from Álex Grimaldo. 4
Grimaldo
Making his third consecutive start, close to untouchable in the lineup already. Caught out badly on Robert Navarro’s goal for 2-0, the last line of defense as Atleti collapsed structurally. Wasn’t great either on Sancet’s goal. A shame for him, and questions will continue to swirl around his capacity to succeed as a Diego Simeone full-back. 3
Hjulmand
Dropped a bit too deep when Athletic attacked, and that saw Atleti invite too much pressure from the hosts’ wide threats. His reading of the game to make tackles and interceptions covered for his uncertainty out of possession, but this was a poor showing from the Denmark international. 3
Barrios
Nearly had an assist for Kang-in Lee inside 150 seconds but the South Korean smacked a shot off the inside of Unai Simón’s far post. Hit the woodwork with a shot-cum-cross at the end of the first half. Tried to drive the team forward in the second half, but with few willing off-ball runners, Barrios could only do so much. 5
Giuliano
Sticks out like a sore thumb in a highly-technical attacking group. An inexplicable ball loss along the boundary keyed the move for Navarro’s goal and presaged his exit from the game 10 minutes later, when national teammate Cuti Romero replaced him. 2
Kang-in Lee
Turned Yuri Berchiche inside out and struck the post inside three minutes amid an energetic if not frantic start to the match. Looked lively throughout the half, moving around the final third to keep width or narrow the pitch to overload the middle. Booked for a strong tackle on Yuri late in the half, and that marked a before-and-after for him. Julián Alvarez replaced him on 58 minutes. 4.5
Baena
Forced Simón into a good save after he found space in the box late in the opening half. Struggled to affect the game after that, and he lasted 75 minutes before Johnny Cardoso replaced him. 5
Lookman
Did little of note and was hauled off before the hour. 2
Koke
Passed crisply and accurately to keep the ball, but again, with no one making off-ball runs, the attacking pace slowed to a crawl. 5
Alvarez
Stopped by Simón 20 minutes from time, took a great touch to turn onto his left foot but needed to hit it with a little more power. If he just imagines that Pau Cubarsí is passing him the ball and not Dávid Hancko, maybe he’ll get in the mindset to score goals again. 4
Romero
Made his Atleti debut, looked a bit rusty. Struggled with Johaneko’s pace and Beñat Gerenabarrena put him on the floor in the buildup to Sancet’s goal. 4
Arnau
Made runs in behind, seemingly the only player willing to do so. Lost possession five times in only half an hour, but at least he tried stuff. What does that say about the rest of his teammates? 4.5
