Real Sociedad host Atletico Madrid at Anoeta on the back of 13 winless La Liga meetings with the Madrid side, a run stretching back to a 2-0 victory in September 2019 that includes five draws and eight defeats.
A record that favours Atletico
Atletico have taken something from their last six league trips to Anoeta, winning three and drawing three, and have never gone seven straight visits without a point against the Basque club, a statistic that shows just how hard it has been for Real Sociedad to turn the tide. Diego Simeone's side, though, have struggled away from home against Basque opposition lately: they are without a win in six such trips (four draws, two defeats), their worst run of this kind since March 2004, when they lost seven in a row under three different managers, Claudio Ranieri, Luis Aragones and Gregorio Manzano.
Real Sociedad, meanwhile, have won two of their last three league games, with one draw, after failing to win any of the previous ten (five draws, five losses). At home, though, Sergio Francisco's side have won only one of their last six league matches at Anoeta (three draws, two defeats), a sign that recent form has not fully carried over to their own ground.
Simeone's numbers against Real Sociedad
Atletico Madrid lost nine of their 24 La Liga matches in 2026 (12 wins, three draws), their heaviest loss tally in a calendar year under Simeone. The last time the club suffered that many defeats in a league season was 2011, when they lost 15. Chema G. Fuente, writing for Mundo Deportivo, said Atletico "are preparing to face Real Sociedad at Anoeta to recover from the two defeats suffered in their last two matches."
Collectively, Atletico rank second in La Liga this season for offensive recoveries, with 37, behind only Villarreal's 38, and they share with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Villarreal the most shots produced from such sequences, eight, though none of those have yet produced a goal.
Against Real Sociedad specifically, Simeone has 19 La Liga wins, the same tally he holds against Real Betis, Celta Vigo and Athletic Club, below the 22 he has recorded against Getafe. His teams have scored 52 league goals against Real Sociedad, fewer than the 58 they have scored against Sevilla. Alex Baena, involved in four goals in his first four league games this season (three goals, one assist), has gone scoreless in seven matches against Real Sociedad, the same number as against Real Madrid and Atletico themselves, though his worst run of blanks is against Getafe, with nine.
Oyarzabal closing in on club history
Mikel Oyarzabal, if selected, will draw level with Ignacio Kortabarria's 443 appearances to become the ninth most capped player in Real Sociedad's history across all competitions. In the last league match, a 2-3 win at Elche, Job Ochieng became the first Real Sociedad player to be directly involved in three goals in a single La Liga game, scoring once and setting up two, the first player to do so since Alexander Sorloth managed it against Girona in October 2022.
The schedule after the break
Real Sociedad sit 11th in the table with 7 points from five games, two wins, one draw and two defeats, and a recent run of win, draw, win, loss, loss. The club have scored six goals and conceded eight this season, a difference of minus two, and sit five points behind leaders Barcelona. Igor Zubeldia and Alvaro Odriozola remain sidelined, with no return date confirmed by the club. After this fixture, the Basque side travel to face Valencia, 20th in the table, on 20 September, a match fans can follow along with the rest of the season on the fixtures page, while the current squad list and the full standings are also available to check.
