{"id":81578,"date":"2026-09-06T12:03:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T12:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/81578\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T12:03:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T12:03:46","slug":"ratings-atletico-crushed-by-incisive-athletic-at-san-mames","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/81578\/","title":{"rendered":"Ratings: Atl\u00e9tico crushed by incisive Athletic at San Mam\u00e9s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Goals from Nico Williams, Robert Navarro and Oihan Sancet saw Athletic Club shock Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid at San Mam\u00e9s on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n

Atl\u00e9tico mostly controlled play in the first half, but the Colchoneros \u2014 debuting their new change kit \u2014 were punched in the mouth immediately after halftime and never got off the mat in a 3-0 defeat.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get into the ratings from a rotten display in Bilbao, where Atleti have failed to score in three of their past four visits in LaLiga.<\/p>\n

Should have done better for Nico\u2019s opener, he got a hand to his header but it functioned more like a turnstile. Couldn\u2019t do much for Navarro\u2019s goal, the product of poor individual and structural defending. More sloppy defending prefaced Sancet\u2019s 90th-minute icing on the turd cake. 4<\/p>\n

Lost out to Nico on the goal inside 30 seconds of the second half. A key conduit in keeping possession, but Atleti built no moves because the attack was so static. 4<\/p>\n

Calm and authoritative despite the early chaos, but defended Nico\u2019s goal miserably, caught merely ball-watching as I\u00f1aki\u2019s deflected shot sailed right past him. 4<\/p>\n

Unfortunate for Athletic\u2019s opener, as he deflected I\u00f1aki\u2019s shot directly into Nico\u2019s path. Caught out for the second goal, which highlighted his lack of recovery speed. His passing and ability to win individual duels are valuable traits, but he hasn\u2019t done a great job covering from \u00c1lex Grimaldo. 4<\/p>\n

Making his third consecutive start, close to untouchable in the lineup already. Caught out badly on Robert Navarro\u2019s goal for 2-0, the last line of defense as Atleti collapsed structurally. Wasn\u2019t great either on Sancet\u2019s goal. On top of that, he suffered 16 ball losses and completed zero crosses. A shame for him, and questions will continue to swirl around his capacity to succeed as a Diego Simeone full-back. 2<\/p>\n

\"BILBAO,<\/a><\/p>\n

BILBAO, SPAIN – SEPTEMBER 05: Alejandro Grimaldo of Atletico de Madrid looks on during the LaLiga EA Sports 2026\/27 match between Athletic Club and Atletico de Madrid at Estadio de San Mames on September 05, 2026 in Bilbao, Spain. (Photo by Ibai Tudanca\/Quality Sport Images\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n

Dropped a bit too deep when Athletic attacked, and that saw Atleti invite too much pressure from the hosts\u2019 wide threats. His reading of the game to make tackles and interceptions covered for his uncertainty out of possession, but this was a poor showing from the Denmark international. 3<\/p>\n

Nearly had an assist for Kang-in Lee inside 150 seconds but the South Korean smacked a shot off the inside of Unai Sim\u00f3n\u2019s far post. Hit the woodwork with a shot-cum-cross at the end of the first half. Tried to drive the team forward in the second half, but with few willing off-ball runners, Barrios could only do so much. 5<\/p>\n

Sticks out like a sore thumb in a highly-technical attacking group. An inexplicable ball loss along the boundary keyed the move for Navarro\u2019s goal and presaged his exit from the game 10 minutes later, when national teammate Cuti Romero replaced him. 2<\/p>\n

Turned Yuri Berchiche inside out and struck the post inside three minutes amid an energetic if not frantic start to the match. Looked lively throughout the half, moving around the final third to keep width or narrow the pitch to overload the middle. Booked for a strong tackle on Yuri late in the half, and that marked a before-and-after for him. Juli\u00e1n Alvarez replaced him on 58 minutes. 4.5<\/p>\n

Forced Sim\u00f3n into a good save after he found space in the box late in the opening half. Struggled to affect the game after that, and he lasted 75 minutes before Johnny Cardoso replaced him. 5<\/p>\n

Did little of note and was hauled off before the hour. 2<\/p>\n

Passed crisply and accurately to keep the ball, but again, with no one making off-ball runs, the attacking pace slowed to a crawl. 5<\/p>\n

Stopped by Sim\u00f3n 20 minutes from time, took a great touch to turn onto his left foot but needed to hit it with a little more power. If he just imagines that Pau Cubars\u00ed is passing him the ball and not D\u00e1vid Hancko, maybe he\u2019ll get in the mindset to score goals again. 4<\/p>\n

Made his Atleti debut, looked a bit rusty. Struggled with Johaneko\u2019s pace and Be\u00f1at Gerenabarrena put him on the floor in the buildup to Sancet\u2019s goal. 4<\/p>\n

Made runs in behind, seemingly the only player willing to do so. Lost possession five times in only half an hour, but at least he tried stuff. What does that say about the rest of his teammates? 4.5<\/p>\n

Starting to earn minutes after Morten Hjulmand\u2019s arrival and an injury-plagued debut season, but he remains a work in progress with the ball and his role will have a definitive ceiling until his distribution improves \u2014 if it does at all. 4<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Goals from Nico Williams, Robert Navarro and Oihan Sancet saw Athletic Club shock Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid at San…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1820,82],"class_list":["post-81578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-madrid","tag-atletico-madrid-player-ratings","tag-madrid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}