Atlético Madrid got back to winning ways in LALIGA — something they’d waited over a month to do — with a 3-2 win over Athletic Club on Saturday night.
After a sorry first half which saw Atleti go a goal down, the team showed some signs of life early on in the second; goals from Antoine Griezmann and Alexander Sørloth turned the score in favour of the hosts.
Sørloth then put daylight between Los Rojiblancos and their Basque opponents late on, before Los Leones grabbed an injury-time goal to make the scoreline
more respectable.
Here are Into the Calderón’s three key takeaways from this match, just four days before Arsenal arrive to the Metropolitano for the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals.
The return (and loss) of Pablo Barrios
We really can’t enjoy anything for long as Atlético fans.
When we beat FC Barcelona to progress to the last four of the UCL, we had to deal with a heartbreaking Copa del Rey final loss in the same week.
When we won trophies back in Diego Simeone’s early years as manager, we’d have to stomach the loss of the team’s best players weeks afterwards.
And now, just when we thought we were being treated to a healthy Pablo Barrios — and after he contributed heavily to his team’s two goals in five minutes — the poor lad was taken off with an injury four minutes after the second went in.
That goal, scored by Sørloth, showed us why Barrios has been missed so much. His care-free cantering with the ball at his feet gives him an aura unlike any other player in red and white when it comes to creating something from midfield. His nonchalant off-load to Álex Baena led to a much-needed assist from the ex-Villarreal man, who teed up his former Yellow Submarine teammate in Sørloth.
The first goal had a similar quality about it, and from the word “go” Barrios was demonstrative in the way he carried the ball. If last week’s substitute appearance at Elche was a test of the waters, then Saturday at the Estadio Metropolitano was him embarking on a comeback voyage.
However, no one was expecting him to sink back under the waves so quickly, potentially setting back his full recovery even further.
It was February 5 the last time Barrios started a match, that time in the Copa del Rey quarter-final battering of Real Betis — another example of not getting to enjoy good things when they happen to Atléticos. That night was a 5-0 rout that took us through to a second consecutive cup semi-final, but the bitter taste of losing Barrios to injury remained clear on the tongue.
Johnny Cardoso has put in some solid shifts since replacing Pablito, but his early Atleti journey also has been littered with injury. These are the two who, in theory, Simeone wants to be lining up in every game, but ultimately their poorly-timed injuries have limited their joint playing time. Instead, captain Koke has been manning the ship, and doing a good bloody job of it too — something that seemed extremely unlikely at the start of this campaign.
As for Barrios, he seemed nailed on to be at this summer’s FIFA World Cup to make his international tournament debut. Now, having missed nearly three months of football at the business end of the season, he’ll be lucky to be on the pitch again in this club season, let alone join Luis De La Fuente’s La Roja in North America in June.
The neutral’s team
It has been one of the most tumultuous seasons in recent colchonero memory that put us on the brink of winning a domestic trophy and has us within sight of the unspoken European crown.
The highs have been stellar — putting five past Real Madrid and knocking Barça out in the Champions League quarter-finals were historic achievements — and the lows have seen us being re-acquainted with cup final misery and some rather depressing performances.
From the point of view of a fan with skin in the game, riding this footballing rollercoaster has been equal parts fun as it has been stressful, especially when each matchday has become a roll of the dice as to decide the scoreline, no matter the opponent.
However, for the neutral, watching Atlético Madrid has been guaranteed entertainment.
Journalist Lars Sivertsen often jokingly refers to a particular game’s xF (expected fun). I doubt there have been many teams with a higher xF than Atleti across Europe, particularly over the course of the last few weeks.
This 3-2 win against Athletic Club was the 18th time Atleti have scored three or more goals in the 2025/26 campaign. It was also the 22nd time one of their matches has seen at least four total goals. Gorka Guruzeta’s 97th-minute header was the 72nd goal conceded by this team and we still have seven games, with a potential eighth, remaining.
For those still billing the Arsenal game as the “Haramball derby,” they must be extremely unintelligent or work for TNT Sports. Or both.
Sørloth continues to deliver
In the wake of the hilarious reports that Barcelona are interested in signing him, Alex Sørloth is giving reason to justify that interest.
Looking at the numbers, this is the fourth consecutive LALIGA season that he has registered double figures in goals, with his 32 total league goals in two seasons at Atleti mostly having come from limited minutes off the bench.
As someone who can completely change a team’s approach — allowing his side to opt for an aerial route to goal — the Norwegian is a smart player to have in your squad.
Although Unai Simón made it significantly easier for him by retreating like the French, his second goal was a sign that he’s not just about one-touch finishes either. This was the biggest downfall of his predecessor, Álvaro Morata, who seemed to decrease his chances of scoring as his time to think increased.
Sørloth’s ruthless method of putting his foot right through the back of the ball helps in this regard, getting rid of the need to think about where the ball will be placed knowing that it’ll be travelling beyond the keeper before they have a chance to react. Of course, the chance he spurned to make it three Atleti goals in 10 minutes around the hour mark showed that power isn’t always the solution. That time, he blazed high over the crossbar, when a more delicate finish over a downward-committing Simón was needed.
If he is able to continue to stomach his role as super sub, then I sincerely hope he remains an Atleti player as long as his left boot can still leather a football. However, a good World Cup with Norway and he could be tempted away from Madrid in the next transfer window.
(No but seriously, how funny would it be seeing him play for Barcelona after all the goals he has scored against them?)
