His debut season at Atletico Madrid was sparkling good for Sørloth with his 20 La Liga goals. Coach Diego Simeone praised his Norwegian Viking, but responded at the start of the season to place Sørloth as a bench player and backup solution for Raspadori and Julian Alvarez. The answer from the Atletico coach as to why he didn’t use his top scorer more this season was that he wasn’t happy with the effort. It was clear Simeone had a game plan where he would focus on the other striker options, Spanish media claimed Sørloth was on the sales list ahead of the winter transfer window. This changed dramatically when we rounded the New Year. Almost two and a half months into 2026, Simeone describes his Norwegian striker in a completely different way.
Since the new year, it has been “free flow”, where Sørloth has time and again been behind game-deciding goals and as the player of the match. Before Saturday’s game against Real Sociedad in La Liga, the 30-year-old stood with 10 goals in 2026!
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With the utmost obviousness, Sørloth hammered in the first goal against Real Sociedad as well, this after several minutes. The way was shown, Atletico won 3-2 and are in 3rd place in La Liga, with an 11-point safety from losing their Champions League ticket for next season.
After the game, it was a delighted Simeone, who does not hold back on the importance of having Sørloth in the Atletico squad.
“I’ll say it again. When he plays like that – participates in the game, works defensively, helps us a lot and at the same time is crucial with goals – he is different from everything else we have. We really need Him. Especially in a game like this because of the opponent’s qualities,” Simeone said, according to Mundo Deportivo.
We really need Him.
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