Atletico 4-2 Espanyol: Sorloth leads comeback win in a 6-goal thriller

Alexander Sorloth netted twice to complete a 4-2 comeback win for Atletico Madrid over Espanyol in LaLiga.

Match Report

After Jofre Carreras had given Espanyol the lead, Sorloth scored Atletico's first and last goals to earn the three points.

Atletico were carved open just six minutes in as Tyrhys Dolan was released down the right to bend a low cross into the box. Marcos Llorente's attempted clearance hit Carreras, who bundled into the net.

But Sorloth pulled Atletico level just 15 minutes later, meeting Llorente's cross with a first-time finish from the edge of the six-yard box.

The hosts piled on the pressure at the Metropolitano after that, though it took until the 49th minute for them to get in front, with Giuliano Simeone finishing off a lovely team move by slotting through Marko Dmitrovic's legs.

An unmarked Ademola Lookman then met Matteo Ruggeri's whipped cross with a fine diving header in the 58th minute.

Sorloth struck the foot of the post before Cyril Ngonge's looping effort hit the bar at the other end, but the Norwegian got his second, and Atletico's fourth, when he headed off the inside of the upright soon after.

Edu Exposito pulled one back for Espanyol, with his shot deflecting beyond Jan Oblak after Atletico had failed to deal with the corner, but it failed to spark a late turnaround.

Data Debrief: Atletico get back on track

Atletico have shown their goalscoring prowess in other competitions in recent weeks, but in LaLiga, they had faltered, losing their last two matches.

They restored order with another big win on Saturday, though, with Sorloth leading the charge to become their top scorer in the league this term. He is now on nine goals.

He was not the only shining light, however. Giuliano Simeone has been involved in 14 goals in all competitions this season (six goals, eight assists in 38 appearances), one more than in the whole of 2024-25 (13 – five goals, eight assists in 47 games).

Atletico finished with 18 shots, and nine of those on target, for an accumulative 2.89 expected goals to Espanyol's 1.06 xG.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

6' GOAL! Atletico 0-1 Espanyol

17' Highlight from Atletico vs Espanyol

22' GOAL! Atletico 1-1 Espanyol

29' Highlight from Atletico vs Espanyol

49' GOAL! Atletico 2-1 Espanyol (Giuliano Simeone)

59' GOAL! Atletico 3-1 Espanyol

60' Highlight from Atletico vs Espanyol

73' GOAL! Atletico 4-1 Espanyol

75' Match Event for Atletico vs Espanyol

77' Match Event for Atletico vs Espanyol

81' GOAL! Atletico 4-2 Espanyol

Line-ups

Atletico XI: Oblak, Griezmann, Sørloth, Llorente, Dávid Hancko, Lookman, Álex Baena, Matteo Ruggeri, Johnny Cardoso, Marc Pubill, Giuliano Simeone

Subs: Koke, Lenglet, Musso, Gimenez, Le Normand, Molina, Thiago Almada, Alvarez, Mario de Luis, Obed Vargas

Espanyol XI: Kike, Cabrera, Dmitrovic, Pol Lozano, Calero, Jofre Carreras, Tyrhys Dolan, Urko González de Zárate, Omar El Hilali, Clemens Riedel, Carlos Romero

Subs: Rubén Sánchez, Pere Milla, Charles Pickel, Exposito, Cyril Ngonge, Miguel Rubio, Ramón Terrats, José Salinas, Ángel Fortuño, Antoniu Roca, Roberto Fernández, Llorenç Serred