Atletico Madrid's Giuliano Under Scrutiny Amid Team Struggles
Diego Simeone walked into the press room this week knowing exactly what was coming. The questions were not about tactics, not about the high press or the defensive line. They were about Giuliano.
The young winger has been involved in every Atletico game this season. Three starts in La Liga, a Champions League outing on the opening day against Liverpool, and one appearance off the bench in the 2-0 win over Malaga on August 19. For a player still trying to carve out his own name, that level of exposure has lit a fuse among sections of the support.
Accusations of favouritism have been thrown around online, the kind of noise that can quickly swallow a season if a team is not winning. Simeone, though, refused to play along. Faced with questions about his son's minutes and the backlash, the Argentine cut it short. Performances, he insisted, are the only thing that matter.
"I have nothing to say. Giuliano's actions and work speak for themselves," he said, brushing aside the storm with a single line and turning the focus back to the pitch.
Family debate in the middle of a wider crisis
The scrutiny on Giuliano has not arrived in a vacuum. His individual displays sit inside a much bigger problem: Atletico are wobbling.
They travel to San Sebastian on the back of two straight defeats. First came a bruising 3-0 dismantling by Athletic, then a setback at Liverpool in Europe. The aura of defensive certainty that once defined Simeone’s teams has cracked badly. Eight goals conceded in the first five competitive matches tell their own story.
What used to be Atletico’s foundation is now their fault line. The backline looks exposed, the distances too big, the duels too often lost. When that happens, every selection call is magnified. Every family connection is questioned.
The pressure has not been helped by the state of the squad. Pablo Barrios is out with a muscle injury, stripping creativity and energy from midfield. Alexander Sorloth remains unavailable in attack, limiting options and forcing Simeone to juggle his front line at a time when he craves stability.
Reale Arena test of nerve
All of that funnels into Sunday’s trip to the Reale Arena. Real Sociedad away is never a gentle assignment; right now, it feels like a stress test of Atletico’s character.
An early-season wobble can be written off if it is stopped quickly. Let it run, and it becomes something far more serious. Simeone knows that. The players know that. The table will soon start to stretch, and if Atletico continue to leak goals, the gap to the summit will not just be psychological, it will be mathematical.
So the stakes are clear. Atletico need an away win in San Sebastian not just for the points, but to reassert who they are supposed to be: hard to break, ruthless when it matters, united in the face of noise from the outside.
Giuliano will step into that atmosphere carrying his own narrative, whether he likes it or not. His minutes, his touches, his runs will all be watched through the lens of his surname. Simeone has drawn a line, insisting the only judgment should come from the grass under their boots.
Now the question is simple: can Atletico’s actions, not their arguments, speak loudly enough to quiet everything else?
