2‑1 against Partizan, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Two goals and a mark of 8.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alexander Sørloth provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlético Madrid this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Atlético Madrid and Espanyol, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
SquadWords at Atlético Madrid training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atlético Madrid can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Sevilla for Rodrigo Mendoza was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
In brief
SquadMarcos Llorente falls out with a teammate over standards
The offer from Albacete for Giuliano Simeone was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Llorente is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Julián Álvarez wants continental football; whether Atlético Madrid can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Julián Álvarez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The phone has started ringing about Giuliano Simeone again, and this time the name on the line is Córdoba. Atlético Madrid are listening politely and promising nothing.
In brief
SquadWords at Atlético Madrid training over how hard people work
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The name of Carlos Martín has come up in conversations Atlético Madrid were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“The easiest signature of my career.” José Giménez and Atlético Madrid agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Oviedo will make the call about Thiago Almada this week. Atlético Madrid have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
In brief
SquadThe manager has not finished forgetting Jan Oblak's mistake
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atlético Madrid can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Atlético Madrid hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Alejandro Grimaldo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The deal fell over and took everything it was going to pay for with it. The club wakes up with the same owner, the same budget and rather less goodwill.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nahuel Molina has his answer from Atlético Madrid; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Alejandro Grimaldo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
11 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Jan Oblak has given nobody the chance.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Ademola Lookman was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Levante will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Atlético Madrid were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Atlético Madrid heard it as anything else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
275 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Atlético Madrid hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Marcos Llorente was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julián Álvarez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Thomas Lemar damages knee ligaments — 121 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 121 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alexander Sørloth provided it, and the 8.70 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Obed Vargas, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.87
A mark of 7.87 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Julián Álvarez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadWords at Atlético Madrid training over how hard people work
Thomas Lemar damages knee ligaments — 137 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 137 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julián Álvarez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Obed Vargas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Julián Álvarez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Barrios is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Rayo Vallecano will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Atlético Madrid were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 29 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.91 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julián Álvarez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Nobody at Atlético Madrid will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Dominic Calvert-Lewin has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.