Ten Atlético Madrid players were involved with their national teams during the final international break of 2025. There were mixed emotions among the rojiblancos as the European World Cup qualifiers came
to an end; some booked their ticket to North America next summer, and some heartbreakingly missed out.
Find out how they all got on in this round-up brought to you by Into the Calderón.
Elation and misery in Europe
Three Atleti Spaniards sealed their inevitable passage to the World Cup with a near-perfect qualifying campaign. After a 4-0 win away to Georgia, La Roja had won every game without conceding a goal, leaving the only way they could miss out on automatic qualification being losing to Turkey by more than 7 goals at home. A 2-2 draw was enough to see Luis de la Fuente’s side top Group E.
Álex Baena played a starring role in the win against Georgia, playing the full match from the left wing. He offers the team a variation from the explositivity we are likely to see from a fit Nico Williams in that position, instead coming inside and using his excellent passing range. Baena also came on for 30 minutes against Turkey in Sevilla.
Pablo Barrios continued to add to his international minutes bank, adding 30 against Georgia as a substitute, before being benched for the following match. Marcos Llorente completed the Atlético trio, playing 45 and 90 minutes respectively across the two matches. Even if Dani Carvajal returns to full fitness and form in time for next June, one would think Llorente has a good chance of getting into the squad ahead of the veteran right-back.
Over in Italy, two Atleti forwards faced off in a match for automatic qualification. Giacomo Raspadori and the Azzurri had a tall order, needing to overturn a significant goal difference margin against Norway. He was unable to contribute, benched for the entirety, as he watched his club teammate Alexander Sørloth play 75 minutes as the Landslaget ran out 4-1 winners.
Sørloth also played the same number of minutes in the game a few days earlier, scoring twice as Norway beat Estonia 4-1. Raspadori’s Italy, meanwhile, will now head into the play-offs next March.
Also within a shot of automatic qualification was Dávid Hancko, who went into a winner-take-all match against Germany with his Slovakia side. Days earlier, Hancko played the full game against Northern Ireland as his side won 1-0 in stoppage time to set up a thrilling finale in Germany. Unfortunately for our left-back, Slovakia were trampled 6-0 by the 2014 World Cup champions, but he will have a second bite at the cherry via the play-offs.
Jan Oblak was in action for Slovenia as they had a slim chance of making the play-offs, but ultimately fell to Kosovo, which ended their World Cup chances. He didn’t partake in the following match against Sweden, instead flying back to Madrid with discomfort that may rule him out for Atleti’s match with Getafe this weekend.
South Americans abroad
Reigning world champions Argentina made the odd trip over to Angola to take on the African country that was celebrating the anniversary of their independence over Portugal. Due to not receiving a yellow fever vaccine in time, Julián Álvarez, Giuliano Simeone and Nahuel Molina didn’t travel with the team. That allowed for some much-needed rest, which La Araña enjoyed with his pregnant girlfriend, and Giuliano gave an extensive live interview with Cope radio station in Madrid.
Thiago Almada and Nico González were involved in the match though, playing 70 and 86 minutes respectively. Argentina won 2-0 as local fans were treated to a Lionel Messi goal and assist; he linked up with Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martínez on both occasions.
Finally, José María Giménez played the full 90 minutes as his Uruguay team drew 0-0 against next summer’s co-hosts Mexico. El Comandante was then rested for the following game played against one of the other hosts, the USA, and naturally Uruguay were pumped 5-1. Coincidence? I think not.
