Atletico Madrid secured Champions League qualification again on Saturday – and they did it in spectacular fashion. Real Sociedad were swept aside by Alexander Sorloth who ensured that Los Colchoneros won 4-0.
The star for Atleti was Alexander Sørloth, who scored all four goals – and that within the first 30 minutes. His hat-trick came in the first 11 minutes, with the three goals scored in just three minutes and 57 seconds, which is a new La Liga record.
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According to MD, Atleti coach Diego Simeone spoke about Sørloth, and also about the team’s performance as a whole.
“I was very happy with the team’s first half in general. Except for Alex, who had a fantastic night. Every single ball that got into a goal-dangerous position was dangerous. That led us to take the game to a place we didn’t expect beforehand, because Real Sociedad is a good team. The team managed to attack well with one striker. We attacked well with De Paul, Giuliano, Barrios or Lino coming in from the second line,” Simeone said.
With these four goals, Sørloth is now Atletico’s top scorer in La Liga with 17 goals – two ahead of Julián Álvarez. And he has achieved this despite often starting games on the bench. Simeone spoke out for the Norwegian international after experts and fans questioned why he doesn’t get more playing time.
“I think if we look at the numbers, he has scored more goals coming into the second half than when he starts. I love that he is a player who helps us in all phases of the game. He is a different type of player than all the others we have. He plays well as an attacking striker, he is good on the counter-attack, and he helps us when the team has to defend. He is a player we exploit to the maximum – precisely because of his goal father.
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