Atlético Madrid – Real Sociedad: Matarazzo Wrote A Phoenix Rise’s Story With La Real (2-2, penalties (3-4))

Pellegrino Matarazzo stunned Diego Simeone’s side to write an elated yet unexpected end to the season with Real Sociedad. Atlético Madrid found themselves obliged to break down a compact low block. Ademola Lookman was the solution at the start, and Julian Alvarez saved his team at the end. After Simeone’s side squandered chances to nip the game in the bud, the clash was extended to extra time and penalty shootouts, in which La Real came out victorious.

Tactical analysis and match report by Achraf Lamdarhri.

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The 2025-26 season has been a rollercoaster of transition and late-season drama for Real Sociedad. After a tumultuous run of results at the start of this term that saw the departure of head coach Sergi Francisco, the appointment of Pellegrino Matarazzo helped steady the ship that had drifted to the bottom five. Currently, La Real sits in seventh place in La Liga, with only two points difference from Celta Vigo and close to the European seats. Real Sociedad are one of the best attacks in the Spanish league; however, their defense is a concerning matter, having conceded 48 goals, leaving them with a one-goal difference. Despite experiencing a whirlwind of results, Matarazzo’s side has fought its way to the Copa del Rey final, looking to turn a season of turmoil into a historic triumph against Diego Simeone’s side.

Atlético Madrid exited the La Liga title race early on. Nonetheless, Los Rojiblancos’ season panned out in an unexpected way that Diego Simeone’s side hasn’t experienced for a while. Atlético Madrid is a part of the Copa del Rey final and one of the last four in the UEFA Champions League. Simeone’s team had to pass through some tough challenges to secure this achievement. The draw in the UCL and Copa del Rey put Atlético against Barcelona. A test that Simeone’s team successfully went through. In both competitions, Atlético Madrid drew a crucial edge over Barcelona in the first leg, which gave them a mental push to endure the Catalans’ offensive firepower in the second leg and protect the lead they secured.

Diego Simeone started the game with Nahuel Molina at the right back position and Matteo Ruggeri as a left back. Robin Le Normand partnered with Marc Pubill at the heart of the defense. Koke and Marcus Llorente sat in midfield. Ademola Lookman and Giuliano Simeone hugged the touchlines. Antoine Griezmann played his final Copa del Rey, accompanying Julian Alvarez in attack.

Pellegrino Matarazzo introduced Jon Aramburu and Sergio Gómez as fullbacks. Duje Ćaleta-Car and Jon Martín filled the center-back spots. Carlos Soler joined Beñat Turrientes in the double pivot. Gonçalo Guedes operated on the left wing and Ander Barrenetxea on the right flank. Luka Sučić operated behind the striker Mikel Oyarzabal.

Ademola Lookman is the solution

Right after the kick-off, Sociedad’s goalkeeper clipped the ball over the top. The delivery bounced off between Molina and Simeone, with the latter unable to match its height in the air. Gonçalo Guedes collected the knockdown and looked to play it across. Ander Barrenetxea came from behind around the penalty area to tower over Ruggeri and bank an early lead.

Atlético Madrid placed greater emphasis on finding Ademola Lookman. Real Sociedad sat in a 4-4-2 medium/low block. Ander Barrenetxea kept tabs on Matteo Ruggeri. Julian Alvarez, roaming between the lines, drew Turrientes attention. That allowed Atlético to pick out the Nigerian winger directly, putting him in a one-on-one situation against the right back, Jon Aramburu. On the right side, Llorente joined Molina and Simeone, forming a wide triangle, with Griezmann leaning toward the ball side. As a response, Oyarzabal tended to drop and provide support with the double pivots shifting across. Atlético’s first-time touches combination enabled them to work the ball across to Lookman on the left.

On other occasions, Simeone’s side made use of Ademola Lookman to stretch the width of the pitch in order to generate spaces inside Real Sociedad’s low block. In other words, Ruggeri tended to proceed with underlapping runs, drawing Aramburu’s attention, whereas Barrenetxea and Sučić doubled up on Lookman near the flanks. Inside the box, Griezmann pinned the center-backs. Turrientes covered the left half-space, staying close to Alvarez. As a result, Koke was free to receive the backward pass, entice Sučić to jump on, and release Alvarez down the space between Jon Martín and Jon Aramburu. The Argentinian striker sneaked behind Turrientes; however, Aramburu was able to stop Alvarez.

18th minute: Atlético Madrid recycles possession to bait Real Sociedad forward and exploit the spaces generated. To elaborate, Sučić and Oyarzabal jump onto the center-backs, and Barrenetxea runs toward Ruggeri. In the middle of the park, Soler takes charge of Llorente. On the left side, Griezmann drops in, tying Turrientes with him, which leaves Koke free to receive. The latter picks out Alvarez, who carries forward. In the meantime, Lookman narrowed inside, dragging Aramburu and vacating the left for Griezmann. The Frenchman diagonally feeds Lookman, who fires the ball home.

Sociedad pulled apart Atlético’s midfield

In settled possession, Guedes and Barrenetxea drifted infield, leaving room for the fullbacks down the flanks. One of Real Sociedad’s midfielders tended to step back around the center-backs, with the other two occupying Atlético’s double pivots. Not only that, but Sociedad’s ball-side midfielder tended to drop in and pull out his marker, which stretched Atlético’s lines vertically and opened up a passing lane between the backline and the front line players. Seventeen minutes in, Sučić stepped back, drawing Koke out of his position. As a result, Oyarzabal had space to drop in between the lines and receive Martin’s line-breaking pass. Oyarzabal flicked the ball from first-time touch to Barrenetxea to pull the trigger from a distance.

Twenty-three minutes in, Turrientes dropped in to form a situational back of three, which drove Lookman, Alvarez, and Griezmann to jump on. In the middle of the park, Sučić baited Koke to press. Down the left half-space, Soler tied Llorente’s hands, with Oyarzabal doing the same for Le Normand on the right. That evacuated the midfield for Sučić to pivot around Koke and switch the play to Aramburu. In the meantime, Barrenetxea drifted infield, dragging Ruggeri with him and keeping the backline distracted by his intentions to punish the space in behind. That saw Guedes shift toward the right and capitalize on the stretched space between the lines to receive Aramburu’s out-in pass and pull the trigger toward the outer net.

Atlético’s wide connections

As aforementioned, Atlético Madrid relied on interchanging positions and wide ball combinations between Llorente, Molina, and Simeone to figure out wide inroads. Soler tended to shift across, to offer support to Guedes and Gomez. Additionally, Griezmann joined the ball side, encouraging Turrientes to follow him laterally. As a consequence, Alvarez dropped centrally into the gap across Sociedad’s midfield line, allowing Atlético Madrid to work the ball around and find routes through Sociedad’s block. The telos was to push Matarazzo’s side backward, so Atlético could infiltrate the box via rotations down the right side.

54th minute: After finding Álvarez between Turrientes and Oyarzabal, Atlético Madrid proceeds with an up, back, and around sequence. Marcus Llorente works the ball around Goncalo Guedes, crashing the box and looking to play the cross. Sergi Gomez blocks off the Spanish midfielder’s pass.

Out of possession, Real Sociedad pressed in a man-oriented fashion high up the pitch. On the right side, Giuliano Simeone dropped in, dragging Sergi Gomez with him, whereas Marcus Llorente would proceed with a run into the space vacated by the Argentinian winger. An hour gone, Marc Pubill picked out Simeone dashing deeper. The latter prodded the ball onto Llorente, who attacked the space behind Gomez. Llorente galloped the length of the pitch, leaving Soler in his wake as he penetrated the box. Llorente spotted Lookman near the far post, sneaking behind Aramburu. The Nigerian winger blasted the ball over.

With seven minutes left, Alex Baena drew Luka Sučić’s attention down the left half-space, which isolated Nico Gonzalez against Pablo Marin near the flanks. The former drove toward the outside of his marker to cross the ball toward the far post. Llorente collected the second ball and played it back to Almada. The latter set his compatriot Alvarez at the edge of the box to shoot and level the tie. Four minutes later, Llorente dispossessed Aihan Munoz in the middle of the park to initiate transition. Alexander Sørloth picked up the loose ball and released Llorente, who squared the pass toward Alex Baena. The latter attacked the central area of the six-yard box to receive Llorente’s cross. However, he squandered the chance to advance in the score.

89th minute: Atlético Madrid works the ball around Real Sociedad’s block. Pablo Marin jumps onto Koke, who picks out Llorente near the touchlines. Almada attacks the space behind Aihan Munoz, who steps out onto Llorente. In response, Ćaleta-Car shifts across to shut down Almada. That saw Alvarez dart into the gap between the center-backs to cross the ball. However, Jon Gorrotxategi blocked off Atlético’s striker’s effort.

Both teams come up with central solutions

Diego Simeone’s side was close to dropping the curtain on the clash as his players were able to cut through Real Sociedad’s low block. The first minute of injury time saw Julian Alvarez shifting across, dragging Soler and Ćaleta-Car with him. In the meantime, Sørloth pushed the backline rearward, with Cardoso coming from behind to exploit the space between the center-backs. That encouraged Jon Gorrotxategi to drop and plug the gap, which freed up the space in front of the backline for Baena to come short and receive Almada’s diagonal pass. Baena slid the ball to Alvarez between the lines, whereas Cardoso darted behind the backline. The former set the latter up in front of the goal. However, Cardoso missed the chance.

Similarly, Real Sociedad figured out routes to progress down Atlético Madrid’s inside channels. Seven minutes into extra time, Simeone’s side sat in a 4-4-2 medium block. As Sociedad worked the ball around, Koke handed off Soler to Cardoso and shifted his attention to Jon Gorrotxategi, as Alvarez jumped onto Ćaleta-Car. On the left, the space between Koke and Almada was large as the former was shuffling across, whereas the latter was taking charge of the left back, Aihan Munoz. Hence, Pablo Marin was able to come short down the left half-space, flicking Ćaleta-Car’s pass to Oskarsson. Throughout the process, Marin and Oskarsson pulled out Llorente and Pubill, navigating passes for Marin to dart into the vacated space. The latter cut in and fed Kubo, who infiltrated the box and set the ball off for Luka Sučić to curl it toward the far angle of the net. Musso cleared the shot into Oskarson’s feet. However, the latter squandered the opportunity to capitalize on the rebound.

Takeaways

In penalty shootouts, Real Sociedad came out victorious after scoring four and missing one, whereas Atlético Madrid missed the target in two chances. Throughout the clash, Simeone’s side found themselves trailing behind in the result for the majority of the time. Therefore, Atlético Madrid had to come up with solutions to Real Sociedad’s low block. At the start, Ademola Lookman appeared to be the answer, whereas at the end, Julian Alvarez rose to the occasion. Atlético Madrid created enough chances to put the game to bed by relying on wide combinations and central penetration; however, Los Rojiblancos weren’t clinical. On the other side, Matarazzo’s team attempted to pull apart Atlético’s midfield to generate central inroads and set up the players in good positions to shoot.

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