Atletico Madrid secured Champions League qualification once again on Saturday – and they did it in spectacular fashion. Real Sociedad were swept aside at the RiyadhAir Metropolitano, with Los Colchoneros winning 4-0.
And the man of the moment for Atleti was Alexander Sorloth, who scored all four goals – and in the opening 30 minutes. His hat-trick came inside the first 11 minutes, with those three goals coming in the space of three minutes and 57 seconds, which is a new La Liga record.
As per MD, Atleti head coach Diego Simeone spoke on Sorloth, and also his side’s performance as a whole.
“I was very happy with the first half of the team in general. Apart from Alex, he had a fantastic night. Every ball that reached the goal zone was forceful. That led us to take the game to a place we didn’t expect before, because Real Sociedad are a good team. The team was able to attack well with a single striker. The team attacked well with De Paul, Giuliano, Barrios or Lino coming in from the second row.”
With those four goals, Sorloth is now Atleti’s top scorer in La Liga with 17 goals – two ahead of Julian Alvarez. And he has achieved this despite regularly starting matches on the bench. Simeone spoke on the questioning of pundits and supporters about the Norway internationa’s playing time.
“I think that if we go to the numbers, he has scored more goals entering the second half than starting. I love him that he is a player who helps us in all moments of the game. He’s a different player to all the players we have. He plays well up front, he plays well on the counterattack, he helps us if the team is at the back. He is a player that we are taking advantage of in a huge way because of the goal.”
