Atletico Madrid vs Real Sociedad

Monterrey’s Estadio BBVA Bancomer plays host to an exciting pre-season showdown between Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad.

Atletico Madrid wasted two separate leads in a shock 3-2 loss to K-League Stars in their opening pre-season outing. But Diego Simeone’s side excelled when it mattered the most, scoring twice beyond halftime in a morale-boosting 2-1 win over Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering Manchester City side. Atletico’s vulnerability in the latter stages saw them concede beyond the 80th minute in both matches. Speaking of the Spaniards’ defensive woes, they’ve failed to keep a clean sheet in five consecutive games in the build-up to this fixture. However, each game in the sequence saw them bag 2+ goals, testifying to Atletico’s newly-discovered scoring prowess.

On the other hand, Real Sociedad’s pre-season started with a whimper rather than a bang. Imanol Alguacil’s men lost their opening two summer friendlies to Osasuna and Sporting Lisbon by an aggregate score of 6-1, conceding 2+ first-half goals in both defeats. But ‘La Real’ got back on track with a narrow 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen at the weekend, meaning none of their last seven matches have ended as a draw (W4, L3). High scoring has been a common theme during that stretch, with five of those seven games producing over 2.5 total goals. Yet, Sociedad’s form woes outside San Sebastian have seen them lose their last three away outings by a combined score of 8-2.