Plus, the rejuvenation of Atleti C.
As we finish off the last of our Nochebuena langostinos, and prepare our 12 grapes to ring in the New Year, let’s take a look at how Club Atlético de Madrid is fairing away from the men’s first team.
In December’s edition of Club News, Into the Calderón brings you an update from Atlético Femenino and the youth academy down the divisions of Spanish football.
Femenino falter
Since our last edition of Club News in November, Atlético Femenino’s season has taken a turn for the worse. They’re currently on a six-match winless run (within a 90-minute match) and have dropped down to fourth place in Liga F, 13 points off top spot. Their campaign has gone from potential title contenders to fighting for the third European spot.
December began with three consecutive 2-2 draws — the two in the league showing up Atleti’s current weakness. Playing at home to Sevilla, Las Rojiblancas found themselves two goals down early on, with the second dropping in just three minutes after the first. An improved second half rescued a point for Víctor Martín’s side, but it was too little, too late to secure the win. The following Liga F match against lowly Eibar saw them concede two goals in just six minutes, putting them 2-1 down and needing a penalty in the second period to spare their blushes.
In the UEFA Women’s Champions League, Atleti guaranteed their passage into the play-offs with a game to spare, despite only winning two of their five matches. Another 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich sealed their place in the top 12, but a humbling 4-0 loss away to heavyweights Lyon condemned the team to 11th spot. Atleti will face Manchester United in the resultant play-off in February.
Manager Martín will need to get starlet Luany back on form if things are to be turned around. We highlighted the 22-year-old Brazilian’s immense contribution to the team in our November update, but she hasn’t found the back of the net since then. It’s now been eight matches without a goal for Luany — a huge factor in Atleti’s current downfall. She was shown a red card during the heavy loss at Lyon.
The women rounded off their 2025 with a nervy cup win away to Murcia-based Alhama CF. After the two teams were locked at 1-1, Atleti pulled through the penalty shootout by a 5-4 scoreline to advance to the quarter-finals of the Copa de la Reina.
They’re now into a well-needed three-week break to rest and prepare for a busy January. As well as Liga F matches against Barcelona and Real Sociedad (the team currently in third place), Atleti also will take on Real Madrid in the Spanish Women’s Supercup, with a win likely pitting them against Barça once more in the final.
Madrileño dream of promotion
The blistering start to Atlético Madrileño’s season has turned into a sustained dominance of their group down in the third tier of Spanish football. Fernando Torres’ boys still occupy first place in Primera RFEF group two, leading second-place Sabadell by a point. Only by finishing in top spot do you guarantee promotion to the second division, meaning the youngsters will have to remain faultless for the duration of the campaign.
Their last game of the year came away to their nearest rivals in a top-of-the-table pre-Christmas clash. Madrileño were bidding to become the first team to score at the Estadi Nova Creu Alta, but were unable to do so, coming away with a 2-0 loss. Sabadell are the only team in the whole of the third tier with only one loss to their name, and they boast the best defensive record too with just seven goals conceded.
As pointed out by Atlético Stats, the way “Atleti B” have bounced back from their previous three losses has been crucial to their impressive run. After their first two losses of the season, they went on to pick up 13 of a possible 15 points, and after the loss to Algeciras CF on Dec. 7, the boys won back-to-back matches. They’ll be hoping to show the same mental fortitude to put the most recent loss behind them and keep building steady momentum to the end of the season.
Three of the last four Atleti B wins have come by a 1-0 scoreline, pure cholismo-style, with late goals and finishes from outside the box getting them over the line in games that could have gone either way. Most recently, a wonder strike from Martín Bellotti was enough to overcome Sevilla Atlético, and four days earlier, it was a goal in the 95th minute that secured all three points away to Marbella FC.
(I’m sure the team would have been asking to stay down on the Costa del Sol to celebrate the win that night…)
Just the two weeks’ break for the youngsters over the festive period, with action resuming on January 3 against SD Tarazona. The squad has been afforded the “luxury” of not playing any Copa del Rey matches during this recent period, due to federation rules preventing B teams from participating.
C team success
The newly-rejuvenated Atlético Madrid C team find themselves with a real possibility of gaining promotion out of the fifth tier of Spanish football.
In their first year back in the division after plain not existing for a while, the team sits in second place in Group 7 of Tercera RFEF, on 30 points. This situates them three points off the top, and seven points ahead of the play-off places.
The boys are the top scorers in the division, with a whopping 41 goals in just 15 games. Almost a third of these goals came within a week of each other, as the team went on a goalscoring rampage. The C’s wound up 8-1 victors away to CD Galapagar, and the following matchday put five past Villaverde San Andrés.
December has seen the team take a slight wobble, losing one and drawing the other of their matches, but a comfortable 6-2 win at bottom side Racing Ciudad de Madrid put them back to winning ways to close out 2025.
Star player Jesús Barrios is the division’s top scorer with 12 goals, and he will be hoping his career trajectory follows a similar path to another Atleti forward who found success in the fifth tier. Giuliano Simeone scored 25 goals in the 2021-22 season for Atlético Madrid B when they fell to that level, and his efforts earned him a loan move to Real Zaragoza in the second division the following campaign.
Barrios has also been key to Atleti’s UEFA Youth League season so far, which has seen them qualify for the next phase in seventh spot. This makes them one of the seeded sides in the knock-out stage, and it has given them a draw against Dynamo Kyiv, who have qualified through the brutal “Domestic Champions Path”. In theory, it’s a match they should win, but anything is possible in youth football.
Category: General Sports
