Atlético’s Hitman bursts from Spider’s shadow to end 18-year wait at Barça | La Liga

The first time Diego Simeone met Alexander Sørloth, he told him he had come up with a name for him. “He calls me Hitman, I hope to live up to that,” the Norwegian said, and so when the boss needed a really big job doing this weekend, there he was: 6ft 4in and 15 stone of ice cool striding past the bodies lying at his feet. He had sat in the shadows silently watching, biding his time, working out where the opportunity would arise and he could appear and then, at just the right moment, he did. He had known and now it was done, plan executed to perfection. Sørloth shotgun. “Cold,” Simeone called him.

There were 23 seconds left on Saturday night when Sørloth scored the goal that beat Barcelona 2-1 at Montjuïc and it had to be him: a single shot, the aim as true as the timing, sending Atlético Madrid to the top of the table, a little bit of history made and title credentials confirmed. It is 13 years since Simeone became coach and he has transformed the club, leaving the Camp Nou in 2014 with a league title that may still be the greatest feat the competition has ever seen, and taking another title seven years later. But he had never actually won a La Liga game against Barcelona there and Atlético had not done so since February 2006, back when Fernando Torres was a player not a plasterer. Sørloth on the other hand had: in 2022-23 he had come with Real Sociedad and scored the second in a 2-1 win, in 2023-24 he had scored in the 99th minute to take Villarreal to victory, and now this. Three years, three clubs, three wins. “I told him: you had to come for us to win here,” Jan Oblak said.

Sørloth had not come alone. Seven players arrived at the Metropolitano this summer. Conor Gallagher came for €42m, Robin Le Normand for €34.5m and at the same time as Atlético were announcing the signing of Sørloth from Villarreal for €32m, Simeone was bombarding Julián Alvarez, trying to convince him to come too. When it wasn’t him, it was his son Giuliano, going on and on so much that Alvarez was tempted to say yes just to shut them up. Which, a few days later, he did.

The roles seemed clear, the fit perfect: the Hitman and the Spider. Sørloth had come from scoring 23 goals last season, Pichichi award only denied on the final day and Simeone was happy for him to be the man to simply finish the job, pulling the trigger. “There will be a great chemistry with the spider,” Sørloth said. “It would be different if they’d signed someone who was 1.95m and 95kg. If they’d signed Haaland I wouldn’t have been too happy because we’re similar, but I don’t see Alvarez as competition.” Instead, they would be partners.

It did not work quite like that, the way it did played out is a portrait of the new Atlético instead. On the opening week at Villarreal, Sørloth scored just before half-time and was withdrawn immediately after. He did not score again in the league until the win against Leganés in October, and that was the last time he started. He has played every league game but has made only seven starts and all of those were before week 10. When Atlético were beaten at Betis the following week, it was their first defeat but it was already the sixth time they dropped points, Simeone searching for a solution.

It is week 18 now and they have won every game since, the shape shifting and the personnel too, often within the same game; Sørloth has started all of them on the bench as Atlético have recovered to become leaders at Christmas. This weekend he said he would like to play Antoine Griezmann, Alvarez and Sørloth but the blanket would be a bit short; he also said it is a mistake to see not starting as not participating, and if anyone demonstrates that it is the Norwegian. After the Betis game, there was a team meeting at which the coach’s key message was that they would all play and no one has given their substitutes more minutes. No one has got more goals back from them either, 11 in total. It is not just about strength in depth but variety.

Simeone met the Hitman individually. “It was a lovely, long meeting,” he revealed this week. “I told him this is how I am, the ideas I have, and I’m not going to change. If we took a long time to understand each other, we would both waste six months. So let’s talk. He understood. His 20, 30, 40 minutes are so important to us.” In the seven games since defeat at Betis, Sørloth has scored in five, all of them off the bench, and not just for the final throwaway minutes; instead, he is averaging half an hour, plus stoppage time, a match. No sub in Europe has more goals and he is scoring every 100 minutes. Against Las Palmas he sealed victory, against Alavés he got the winner on 86, against Getafe he scored the only goal.

Which might be why, when he was asked the team before kick-off in Barcelona, his reply began with: “I’m not in it”, but there was no reproach, just recognition of a different role, another kind of opportunity. “It’s a really strong starting XI and we have a lot of strings,” he said. “That’s very important and Simeone stresses it a lot. Don’t just sit on the bench being angry and feeling sorry for yourself. That’s also part of growing up. Before, say five years ago, I would have been so angry, fuming. Now I’m 29, waiting to come and make an impact. I have good feelings here.”

Some impact, some feelings.

Pedri was superb, scored a lovely opening goal and for most of the night the same story seemed set to be repeated, Atlético’s 18-year wait continuing and Oblak admitting afterwards: “We suffered, we started with fear.” Rodrigo De Paul equalised but Barcelona should still have won it: Raphinha hit the bar, Robert Lewandowski missed from three yards, and Dani Olmo shot wide, the chance count saying 9-2. Oblak saved three one-on-ones, including from Raphinha and Pedri on 86 and 88. “We played a brilliant game,” Hansi Flick said, while Simeone cited “the goddess of fortune” and for a long time Atlético would surely have been relieved to hear the final whistle go, taking the draw and avoiding defeat. At some point though the coach said a counter would come, and on 95 it did.

A loose pass from Raphina – “the defeat is my responsibility,” the Brazilian said afterwards – started it, Simeone following from the touchline, calling for De Paul to slow it down and then saying “it’s a goal” when De Paul found Nahuel Molina sprinting up the right. Molina’s cross was impeccable; Sørloth’s finish clinical. He had been on 20 minutes, but planning this a lot longer. “On the bench, I was looking, watching. I could see the spaces. They play a high line, so it is about timing the runs, being smart. I was watching, frothing at the mouth. The manager says: work hard on defence and be ready if the chance comes.”

Barcelona’s players hit the floor. His mission completed, Sørloth stood among them, arms out. From the bench, Atlético’s players sprinted towards him and Molina. Simeone went with them, suddenly putting on the brakes, turning back and running in the other direction like he remembered he left the oven on, delirium taking hold around them. “It’s my dad’s birthday, and he passed away two years ago: this is a lovely present,” he revealed after. “You have to be Atlético to understand,” De Paul said. How do you explain this, Oblak was asked. “One word: football,” he said.

It was, Simeone insisted, all about the group, a message he has driven hard, which meant it was about the striker too. “I’m happy for Sørloth; he understood,” he said. Oblak said: “Every player’s important. I’m sure he would like to play 90 minutes but when he comes on he does his job and he has done it again here”. “Giant” shouted AS, the Norwegian striding across the front page. One line had him as “Goya’s Colossus, only blonde”. Asked to sum it up, Sørloth said simply: “Amazing.”

Atlético had done it again, securing another of those wins that makes you wonder: what if … Ángel Correa had scored on 92 to beat Athletic and 95 to draw with Madrid. Alvarez had scored the winner on 90 against Celta. Griezmann’s goal defeated Sevilla on 94. Sørloth’s goals beat Alavés on 86 and now Barcelona on 96, taking them top. In the Champions League, they had beaten PSG on 93 and Leipzig on 90. Even in the cup, their five goals had come on 81, 83, 89, 92 and 96. “It’s not chance,” Javi Galán said, although there is a bit of that too.

This was Atlético’s seventh win in a row in La Liga, their 12th in all competitions, and it was the biggest fixture of them all: not just the game that could take them three points ahead of Barcelona with a game in hand having been 10 points behind, but at the only place to resist them all these years. Simeone though knew just the man for the job, silently waiting for the call.