On Saturday, it was time for a match between the reigning and leading La Liga champion Barcelona and the eternal third Atletico Madrid, who currently find themselves in a vulnerable 4th place.
The world’s highest-paid manager Diego Simeone clearly had his sights set on next week’s Champions League clash, but it’s still not allowed to make tactical mistakes of this magnitude.
Atletico Madrid 1 – Barcelona 2
Atletico manager Simeone “misses” badly on Sørloth
Spanish newspapers have also this season pulled Sørloth up in the headlines. Before Christmas as a hot candidate for a change of club – after Christmas as La Liga’s most in-form attacking player. In other words: a player you use in the biggest matches. Still, Atletico missed Diego Simeone badly on just that Saturday. – At the Wanda Metropolitano a whole bunch of scouts, including Arsenal, who at the urging of captain Martin Ødegard who finally feels grass under his feet.
Atletico Madrid will face Barcelona this week in the Champions League quarter-finals. There is one player the coach should have on the pitch when the Catalan giant is on the other side of midfield: Alexander Sørloth. So why on earth did it take an hour before the super striker was inserted into Saturday’s La Liga clash against the same opponent?
Because if there’s one striker Barcelona have really struggled with, it’s Sørloth. First at Real Sociedad, then at Villarreal, then the last two seasons at Atletico Madrid. In December 2025, a surprising thing happened: Sørloth walked off the field without scoring. Surprising, because “our man” had scored in six games in a row (!) against Barcelona – for three different clubs. In total, Sørloth has seven goals against Barcelona, in addition to three assists.
On Saturday, the stage was set for a meeting with Barcelona again, but Simeone kept Sørloth on the bench for the first hour. When the “Barcelona killer” was finally deployed, it was already too late. Atletico struggled with 10 men after a sending off before half-time, and Sørloth’s role was completely different than planned. There was no shortage of drama in the game that ended with a 1-2 win for Barcelona, but we shake our heads dejectedly: Why doesn’t the Atletico coach use his most in-form striker in 2026 – a player with nine goals?
We hope Simeone has learned by Wednesday. Then it will be a blast against Hansi Flick’s men in the Champions League. Then Atletico needs Sørloth at the top – from the start.
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