Atlético Madrid 2-0 Real Oviedo: Player ratings

Atlético Madrid waltzed to victory over a toothless Real Oviedo at the Metropolitano on Saturday night.

Many players were rested with a huge game against FC Barcelona coming up in midweek, but two first-half goals from Alexander Sørloth were enough to see off LALIGA’s bottom side. Atleti became the first team in the league’s history to open the scoring in their first 14 matches of the season, whilst continuing their impressive home form.

Here are Into the Calderón’s player ratings for this one.

Player ratings

Jan Oblak: Back from injury sustained in international break so was able to show the fans his shiny new Zamora trophy from last season. Claimed a few crosses and trapped a couple of shots, but wasn’t really called into any significant action. 6

Nahuel Molina: Second consecutive start following his decent shift against Inter Milan in midweek. Atleti’s game plan was directed more down the opposite flank, so wasn’t majorly involved initially. Was given the full ninety minutes, originally starting as a wing-back before converting to a more traditional full-back in the second half. Still managed to squeeze in an error that led to a rare Oviedo chance late on. 6

Marc Pubill: First start as an Atleti player and he spent it keeping veteran striker Salomón Rondón quiet. He’s slowly gaining the heart of his manager and performances like this will go a long way to help. He’s certainly won the hearts of colchoneros online; theres been a big clamour to get Pubill involved more often since the season’s inception. 6

Clément Lenglet: Although slightly more on the left in general, was in the heart of a three-man center-back combination which we haven’t seen him do before. Contributed to the quietening of Rondón, but had little to do as Oviedo lacked any other offensive presence. 6

Dávid Hancko: Assisted Sørloth’s first goal with a bursting run, a great first touch and an instinctive ball across the six-yard box. Delivered the ball in that led to Sørloth’s second. The two are creating quite a partnership. His versatility is an absolute virtue. 7

Nico González: Simeone must have thought he struck gold when this guy arrived from Juventus in the summer. He made the entire left flank his own tonight, working tirelessly to retrieve any sniff of a loose ball. I particularly like the way he flowed between roles of winger and wing-back, appearing wherever necessary. Let’s hope he can join on a permanent basis next year. 7

Conor Gallagher: Like Molina, it was the Englishman’s second consecutive start, this time in a more central role compared with the left-sided position he played in midweek. Had a nice energy about him, looking confident against a weaker opposition, even having a few pops at goal. 6

Koke: Took his standing ovation pre-game from the Metropolitano for his recent 700-game milestone. Given a surprising amount of minutes considering the magnitude of the game on the horizon. Perhaps without him marshalling the middle of the park, tonight’s game could’ve been a more complicated one that it was. His motor certainly doesn’t appear to be slowing down, so expect him to play an equally-important part on Tuesday. 7

Álex Baena: A player whose quality really shines through when given a starring role (without Álvarez on the pitch). His protagonismo was evident; the Spaniard popped up all over the pitch. A slick pass to play in Hancko so he could provide the assist for the opener. Isn’t afraid to get stuck into a tackle either, something he received many yellow cards for in his early days at Villarreal. Was brought off at half time to keep him fresh as a daisy for the trip to the Camp Nou. 8

Antoine Griezmann: Didn’t do a whole lot, but was certainly more switched on than he appeared last week at Getafe. Always nice to see him combining with simplicity — you can appreciate his technical abilities just as much when he doesn’t try to overdo it. 6

Alexander Sørloth: Posted up his third and fourth LALIGA goals of the campaign. The first, a simple finish to complete an excellent team move and the second, a decent finish after winning the ball in the box from a Hancko cross. Made lots of progressive runs up the pitch and seemed to have a bit of oomph about him tonight. Probably explains why he had the body language of a child that had just been told they cant have their best friend round to play when he was taken off on the hour mark, unable to complete his hat-trick. 7

Substitutes

Giuliano: Was brought on for the second half and within eight minutes he had already provoked a yellow card from an opposition player. Echoing Ruaridh Barlow’s sentiments on X, he’ll be looking forward to having a go at Barcelona’s high line on Tuesday. 6

Pablo Barrios: Wasn’t 100% enchufado (locked-in), maybe due to the relaxed nature of the match heading towards an inevitable outcome even before he came on. 5

Julián Alvarez: Had a thirty-minute warm-up to prepare for Barcelona, and was able to take the game at a slower pace than he normally does. Regardless, he showed some lovely touches and was disappointed not to score after Giuliano layed it off for him. 5

Giacomo Raspadori: Came on for a go at left-back by the looks of things. Probably something he wasn’t expecting when he signed from Napoli having only played as a forward in his career so far. Nonetheless he cracked on and did what was asked of him, just what we like to see. 6

José María Giménez: Had a couple of minutes to practice in a back four that we could see in Catalunya next week. N