ATLETICO MADRID’S SEASON went from bad to worse on Wednesday as they were knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Real Sociedad.
A comfortable 2-0 victory for La Real sent them through to the quarter-finals while Atletico are left needing to beat Manchester United in the Champions League last 16 to have any chance of rescuing their season.
Diego Simeone’s team are effectively out of the La Liga title race already given they sit 16 points behind Real Madrid and they were beaten by Athletic Bilbao last week in the semi-finals of the Spanish Super Cup.
The Copa del Rey appeared their only realistic chance of silverware left but instead they were convincingly beaten at the Reale Arena, where goals from Adnan Januzaj and Alexander Sorloth were enough to put the Basque side through.
Atletico Madrid have now managed only two victories in their last eight games in all competitions. In the league they have registered just one clean sheet in seven.
Januzaj and Atletico’s Yannick Carrasco both hit the post early on before Januzaj gave Real Sociedad the lead in the 33rd minute when he somehow wriggled in front of three Atletico defenders to head in off the post.
More sloppy defending then gifted the hosts a second as Felipe disastrously tried to turn on the ball when he was Atleti’s furthest man back, and Sorloth robbed it off him before going through to finish.
Real Sociedad join Mallorca, Rayo Vallecano, Cadiz, Valencia and Real Betis in the quarter-finals, with Real Madrid facing Elche and Barcelona playing at Athletic Bilbao on Thursday.
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Ah now…..thats a bit hard on Rory! He cant help where hes born. We can be so smug here in our busted Republic. Try walking the fine line of catholic/protestant….nationalist/unionist……and not stumble at least once. Rory has handled himself with total dignity and he is fully entitled to feel more British than Irish if he wants! Bottom line? Hes the worlds number one golfer and Im proud to be from the same island as him! Rock on Rory!
great event…. be better viewing if on BBC. Sky coverage is a tad ott in my opinion.
Could not agree more
Certainly OTT with the ad breaks!
Still my favourite comp in golf…but
Too much hugging and patting each other on the back and talking sh1te. And that’s the Euro team, they’re worse than the US ever were. G Mc worst of the lot. Rant over.
I’ll keep in touch with this but I have to say that it seems to me that the build up to this year’s event has been very muted. Especially when you compare it to the kind of excitment that surrounded the event in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Perhaps its just that I haven’t been looking for it. Maybe it will build over the weekend assuming its a close match.
No Podge — also it’s never quite as buzzed when it’s on the other side of the Atlantic. Nothing’s gonna compare to 2006 in terms of excitement.
i am a golf lover, however, I am no longer excited about McIlroy, yes he is amazing, but I have become ambivalent after his nationality issue.
Your problem, not his.
I dunno if its cause harrington was left behind or what but i have to say i have no interest in it this year for the first time in twenty years
Watching the Americans cheer when the Europeans hit a bad shot tells us how I’ll mannered and unsportsmanlike they are as a people. It really removes any enjoyment from the Tournament. I have experienced similar behaviour in Chicago before but never at this level.
Ok….cant sleep here!
I would love if Rory played for team Irl in next Olympics…..but if he doesnt and goes with team GB then I will cheer him on, provided hes not playing against team Irl. Just like I cheered for Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis…..and Usain Bolt! But most enduring and enjoyable memory…..our Katie!
European championships and Olympics took away from build up of ryder cup I think. Great event tho, and great coverage on journal.ie, well done guys…
Go U S of A
Yeeeeeow!
Rory already picked GB for the Olympics at Rio. Tiger back to himself after good start to The Ryder Cup. still shouting for Europe though. Day 2 is going to be better.
Don’t know what golf you were watching yesterday but Tiger was brutal, barely hit a fairway, won no points and was easily the worst player on team USA. His team are two points up despite him.
@limofax seven birdies in the afternoon fourball – hardly dire? His team simply ran into the ‘freight train’ that was Colsaerts (sp?) yesterday. What made Colsaerts’ performance (8 birds & 1 eagle I think) was that he did it all whilst carrying Westwood around the course – his back must be broke this morning!
And dropped this morning. Regardless of his birdies yesterday afternoon he still the standout failure for the Yankidy planks.