LALIGA champion Atletico Madrid was knocked out of the Copa del Rey after a 2-0 defeat at Real Sociedad in the last 16 on Wednesday.
Sociedad took the lead in the 33rd minute from a superb header by Adnan Januzaj, who jumped between three defenders to nod the ball into the bottom-left corner of Jan Oblak’s goal.
The hosts extended their lead after a defensive mistake, when Mikel Oyarzabal robbed the ball from Felipe and freed Alexander Sorloth to run into the box and rifle a shot home from close range.
The Basque side joined Valencia, Real Betis, Rayo Vallecano, Mallorca and Cadiz in the quarter-finals while Real Madrid faces Elche and Athletic Bilbao hosts Barcelona in the last two round-of-16 games on Thursday.
It was the second disappointing loss in a week for Atletico after they fell 2-1 to Athletic Bilbao in the semifinals of the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia.
Fourth in the LaLiga standings, 16 points behind leader Real Madrid, Atletico is in a slump and pressure is mounting on their manager Diego Simeone.
“This is Atletico and we’re going to give everything that we have to recover. We’ll be back. We’ll keep fighting. It’s a bad situation but we’ll get up for sure,” defender Mario Hermoso told reporters.
It was a frantic first half, with both teams attacking and creating opportunities. Before scoring the opener, Januzaj sent a curling cross-shot against the post. — Reuters
