Thanks to an outstanding Alexander Sörloth, who scored the fastest and earliest hat trick in the history of the Spanish top flight, Atletico won 4-0 against Real Sociedad San Sebastian. This secured their place in the Champions League.
Atletico coach Diego Simeone made four changes after a disappointing 0-0 draw at relegation candidates Deportivo Alaves, rotating his attack. Griezmann, Gallagher (both bench), Alvarez (not in the squad) and defender Lenglet (bench) were dropped from the starting line-up. Sörloth, Gimenez, Koke and Lino came in from the start.
Llorente was the first to push forward down the right and advance into the penalty area. However, his pass to Sörloth landed directly at the feet of the Real Sociedad defense (2′).
The Madrid side created danger in the early stages and shortly afterwards achieved a historic victory against their opponents, who, compared to the 0-0 draw in the derby against Athletic Bilbao, brought on Sucic, Aramburu, Barrenetxea and Javi Lopez in place of Traoré, Sergio Gomez, Mendez and Aihen (all on the bench). Aguerd also had to leave the pitch before kick-off due to pain during the warm-up and was replaced by Aritz in defense.
Hat-trick in less than four minutes
In the 7th minute, a cross from the right gave them an early lead, with Barrios’ long ball finding Sörloth, who saw the gap in the defense and fired home to make it 1-0. The action continued at a rapid pace, with the former Leipzig and Sociedad striker scoring a hat trick within three minutes and 57 seconds. First, in the tenth minute, Lino passed to the Norwegian, who placed the ball in the bottom corner of the goal. A minute later, after a failed clearance attempt by Martin, the ball landed at the feet of the 29-year-old, who shot directly with his left foot. With that, the Norwegian had completed the fastest and earliest hat trick in league history after just eleven minutes.
Atletico were not only stronger in the tackles in the first half, but also more confident in their passing. Javi Galan proved this after half an hour when his cross from the left found Sörloth, who was running in behind the defense. His left-footed shot made it 4-0 for Simeone’s team after half an hour and a hat-trick for Sörloth himself! It was a clear deficit for the visitors from the Basque Country, who did occasionally get crosses in front of goal through Kubo. However, Zubimendi missed the best chance in stoppage time of the first half in a duel with Lino. So it was a deserved 4-0 lead for the home side at the break at the Metropolitano.
Little flair in the second half
After the break, Alguacil tried to make up for the lack of confidence from the first half and switched to a back five. This worked until the 50th minute, when Llorente broke free and found Sörloth in the gap between the defense with his cross. Only this time, the Norwegian hit the crossbar.
The game then turned into a game of patience, with the San Sebastian team retreating into their own half and Atletico looking for gaps. Substitute Mariezkurrena caused a brief stir when his long-range shot forced Oblak into a save (58′). In the following period, however, Sociedad remained with almost the entire team in their own half to avoid conceding a fifth goal.
Correa caused a final roar in the Metropolitano in stoppage time, but Remiro distinguished himself with a save from his shot from the penalty spot (90+1). The final score remained 4-0, and Atleti secured their place in next year’s Champions League with three games to spare.
Atletico’s next game is away to CA Osasuna on Thursday (7pm). San Sebastian, meanwhile, face Celta Vigo on Tuesday (8pm).
