Atlético Madrid's Dominance Over Real Sociedad: A Six-Year Hoodoo
Real Sociedad's new boss Pellegrino Matarazzo faces the daunting task of breaking a six-year winless streak against Atlético Madrid in La Liga on his debut.
Real Sociedad haven’t beaten Atlético Madrid in La Liga for over six years, despite managing victories against both Real Madrid and Barcelona during the same period.
The Simeone Curse
Pellegrino Matarazzo’s baptism of fire as Real Sociedad’s new gaffer couldn’t be much tougher, as he faces an Atlético Madrid side that’s been La Real’s bogey team for absolute donkey’s years. The txuriurdin have gone 11 league matches without beating Los Colchoneros - a proper nightmare streak stretching back to September 2019.
What makes this particularly interesting is that during the same period, the Basque outfit have managed to:
- Defeat Real Madrid three times
- Beat Barcelona once
- Only manage a solitary victory against Atlético (in Copa del Rey)
That’s proper mad when you think about it - they can handle the big two but can’t get a result against Simeone’s men for love nor money.
The Last Time They Did It
Cast your mind back to September 14, 2019. That’s when La Real last got one over on Atlético in the league, winning 2-0 with goals from Martin Ødegaard and Nacho Monreal. Of the players who featured that day, only Aritz, Oyarzabal and Remiro remain at the club (with Zubeldia currently injured).
Since that victory, it’s been a proper dog’s dinner for Real Sociedad against Atlético in La Liga:
- 7 defeats
- 4 draws
- 0 wins
Copa del Rey - The Exception
The only bright spot in this otherwise miserable run came in the 2022 Copa del Rey, when Imanol Alguacil’s side knocked out Atlético with a 2-0 win in the round of 16 at Anoeta. But in the bread and butter of league competition, they’ve drawn a blank.
Last season followed the familiar pattern - a 1-1 draw at home (with Sucic scoring for La Real) before getting absolutely hammered 4-0 at the Metropolitano.
Matarazzo has his work cut out to turn this around on his debut. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end - the poor bloke needs to end a six-year curse just to get off to a winning start!