Early Momentum of Atletico Madrid's Revival

WASHINGTON, FRIDAY — Atletico Madrid ended a series of setbacks by achieving their first victory in the 2025 Club World Cup. This positive result should serve as the initial momentum for their resurgence, although the path ahead will not always be easy.

Atletico Madrid defeated Seattle Sounders with a convincing score of 3-1 in the Group B match held at Lumen Field Stadium, Washington, United States, on Friday (20/6/2025) morning WIB. With this result, they continue to maintain their chances of advancing to the round of 16 while also finding hope in the performance of young players such as Pablo Barrios.

The victory over Seattle Sounders, initiated by Barrios with two goals (in the 11th and 55th minutes) and Axel Witsel (in the 47th minute), ended the bitterness experienced by Atletico Madrid throughout this season. Not only in the domestic league and the Champions League, Atletico also had to endure disappointment when starting their campaign in the Club World Cup, suffering a heavy defeat of 0-4 against Paris Saint-Germain in their first match.

Atletico arrived at the Club World Cup after failing to bring home any titles from the three competitions they participated in. In La Liga, "Los Rojiblancos" are still struggling to challenge the dominance of Real Madrid and Barcelona. In fact, at the start of the season, the team coached by Diego Simeone had created hopes of becoming a contender against Madrid and Barcelona in the title race.

Moreover, by the end of the first half of the season, Atletico has managed to become a competitor to Real in the race for the top of the standings. They were able to displace Barca, which had held the first position from the first week to the fifteenth week, with a 2-1 victory.

Although they briefly dropped to second place a week later, Atletico managed to return to the top of the standings in the 18th week. However, after the New Year, the inconsistency that plagued Koke and his teammates ultimately caused them to become mere shadows of Barca and Real once again.

Atletico's efforts to seize titles in the other two competitions were also thwarted by Barca and Real. Atletico failed to advance to the final of the Copa Del Rey after being defeated by Barca and was eliminated from the Champions League after losing to Real.

Their new hope to taste success now lies in the Club World Cup. Although they failed to start with a victory, the result against Seattle should serve as a starting point for a resurgence from a series of poor results this season.

Moreover, Atletico also demonstrated good performance. They played dominantly from the kickoff, determined to redeem their defeat and mistakes from the opening match. Many opportunities were created, although a significant number were also wasted.

"The most difficult thing in football is creating opportunities. We created many chances today but were not fortunate enough to score more goals," said Koke to FIFA.

Koke and his teammates were able to create 15 shots on goal, but only 7 were on target. The imperfect finishing was the cause.

For example, Alexander Sorloth squandered two golden opportunities to get his name on the scoresheet. In the 16th minute, when Atletico was only leading 1-0, Sorloth managed to control a cross well, but his close-range volley missed the target.

About nine minutes later, Sorloth again failed to score after receiving a golden opportunity. The Norwegian player was able to easily deceive the opposing players inside the penalty area after receiving a through ball. However, he ended up kicking the ball towards the opposing goalkeeper, Stefan Frei, who was able to catch it with ease.

Despite many missed opportunities and an opponent's goal in the 50th minute through the actions of Albert Rusnak diminishing hopes of victory, Atletico coach Diego Simeone expressed satisfaction as his players demonstrated competitiveness. Simeone also stated that he was pleased with the valuable win.

In addition to competitiveness, another positive aspect observed in that match was the impressive performance of young players such as Barrios. The 22-year-old player opened the scoring for Atletico with a shot from the edge of the penalty area that grazed the crossbar before entering the goal. In the second half, Barrios scored again after being in the right position to strike the ball inside the penalty area.

In recent years, the name Barrios has begun to attract attention. He made his debut for his childhood club in 2022, inheriting the number 8 jersey from fellow Atletico academy product, Saul, when the veteran player joined Sevilla on loan in 2024.

Barrios has transformed from a key rotation figure to the first-choice option this season, recording 2,337 minutes in La Liga while adding one goal and four assists.

"They always urged me to move forward and attack. Today was like that. Of course, I am very pleased with that. We played a great game; we should have been able to score more goals," said Barrios, who was named the best player of the match.

"We must be better in front of the goal because short tournaments like this are determined in the penalty area. We need to improve our performance, and we succeeded. Now we look forward to Botafogo," he stated again.

Atletico will face Botafogo on Tuesday (24/6/2026) in the early hours of WIB. Like Paris Saint-Germain, Botafogo is not an easy opponent to conquer. Moreover, the Brazilian team is currently at the top of the temporary Group B standings after defeating PSG 1-0.

The Seattle Sounders have been confirmed to be mere spectators in the knockout phase after suffering two defeats. Seattle failed to follow the historic victory of fellow MLS team, Inter Miami, over Porto with a score of 2-1. This marked the first time an MLS team has defeated a European team in a competitive match.

Nevertheless, the spirited performance from Seattle deserves appreciation. Moreover, they did not lose their enthusiasm after Atletico's opening goal. On the contrary, the team coached by Brian Schmetzer was able to pressure Atletico's defense and forced goalkeeper Jan Oblak to make several saves.