Without either of their nines, Atlético travel to the Pizjuán
La Liga, matchday three, 21:30 CEST on Saturday 29 August at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán. Atlético Madrid go there without Sørloth and without Álvarez.
Alexander Sørloth is out with a muscle injury. At his pre-match press conference Simeone said the absence hurts them and that Sørloth is hugely important. Julián Álvarez did not appear at group training from Wednesday to Friday and has been left out of the squad. The club say he is unwell.
He has not stayed away from the training ground, though. On Friday afternoon he worked alone at Cerro del Espino with a fitness coach the club put with him. No group session, but he has at least started getting his body back.
The transfer story moved in the same week. On 27 August the board decided unanimously not to negotiate a sale to Barcelona and put that out in a statement. With Barcelona shut out, the route still being reported is Arsenal. The window closes at 23:59 on 1 September.
Whether he is really ill is not something anyone outside the club can judge, and I am content not to know. For this match the only settled thing is that he will not play.
Robin Le Normand is suspended too, for the straight red against Villarreal. On 25 August the referees' committee said VAR was right to intervene, and the RFEF disciplinary committee gave him a one-match ban the same day. There was talk in Spain of the ban being extended because he threw a bottle on his way off, but no additional suspension appears in the published decision.
Simeone apologised to Lookman for this, and now has to do it again
After Villarreal, Simeone told his press conference he was apologising to Lookman, that he knew it was not his position, and that he had needed him there with Sørloth injured and Álvarez still working his way back. The same day he said that to win titles you need forwards.
Lookman played 79 minutes that night and had one shot. FotMob put it at 0.02 xG.
Every projected XI in Spain still has him leading the line. What changes is everything around him. The report from Thursday's session had a 4-4-2 with Lee Kang-in alongside him; another has Koke in midfield with Baena and Giuliano Simeone pushed high. Combinations were rotated in training as well, so none of this is settled until the team sheet arrives.
The shape around him is what I want to see. Lee Kang-in had six shots against Villarreal, more than anyone else on the pitch for Atlético, and pushing him into the front pair should at least get them shooting more often from around the box. My reading is that Simeone is after a shape where Lookman is not carrying the line on his own.
There are other bodies for the position. Carlos Martín is the recognised forward and he started the opener against Málaga, but it went badly: two shots, both off target, one duel won out of eight, and off on 57 minutes for Lee Kang-in. Into the Calderón gave him 5.5. Arnau Ortiz finished last season as Primera Federación's top scorer with 23 goals, though he is a winger by trade who plays both flanks. Neither is at the stage of replacing the two men who shared last season's club scoring lead.
Sevilla's six points came from two penalties and a numerical advantage
They went behind to Rayo inside four minutes on the opening weekend and turned it round from the spot twice: Guridi to equalise, Peque to win it in the 97th minute. Kike Salas was sent off on 88 minutes in the same game. In the second round they won 3-1 at San Mamés, but Athletic lost Yuri Berchiche to a red card on 11 minutes and spent close to eighty minutes with ten men. The referees' committee later called that dismissal a clear and obvious error and said a free kick with no card was the right call.
Luis García Plaza replaced Almeyda last March, inherited a relegation fight, and has this season off to six points. Then Oso, who scored the opener at San Mamés, left days before this game. He has agreed a move to Strasbourg and travelled to France on Friday, for a fee reported at 10 million euros. Neither club has announced it.
García Plaza called Oso's departure a blow they have to swallow, and swerved most of the market questions. On the game itself he said they will compete tomorrow and there is nothing else. Papers in Spain called it the shortest press conference he has given since taking the job.
None of which makes Sevilla easy to beat. They are at home, they have momentum, and they come after you high up the pitch.
Three summers of heavy spending, and a point is not enough
Since Álvarez arrived in 2024 the club has spent big three summers running. Baena and Hancko came in last year; this summer Lee Kang-in and Hjulmand joined the midfield while Grimaldo and Cristian Romero rebuilt the back line. Atlético have not published a fee for any of those moves, but the figures reported run into the tens of millions every time.
A squad put together that way should not be dropping points from the opening weeks. Last season Atlético had two points after three games. The season before it was five, and the one before that seven. Four from two is better than last year, but a draw here puts them back on five, and five after three is not the record of a side going for the title. Whatever the state of the forward line, this is a game to go and win.
Who starts up front, and whether Atlético are getting shots away inside the box: those are what I will be watching. Against Villarreal, 13 of their 19 shots came from outside it.