A goalless attrition at the Reale Arena had all the makings of a hard-earned point until Atlético Madrid remembered who they were. Then, in the space of a few pitiless minutes, everything collapsed for Real Sociedad. Alejandro Grimaldo's penalty broke the deadlock, and once the dam gave way, the water came through in a torrent. What ended 0-3 flattered nobody in white and blue.

The scoreline reads like a rout, and by the finish it was one, but the truth is subtler and more cruel. For the best part of an hour and a half the hosts matched their visitors, frustrating them, refusing to blink. Football rarely rewards endurance without a cutting edge, though, and Atlético had one and Real Sociedad did not. When it mattered, one side had the composure to finish and the other had only the ache of a wasted afternoon.

This was the away team's ruthlessness distilled. Grimaldo, the architect, turned scorer and creator inside the closing stretch, dragging his team up the table with the cold efficiency that has come to define their better days. By full time the noise had drained from the stands and the story had been rewritten from a stalemate into a statement.

The dam bursts

The breakthrough arrived on 84 minutes and it came from the penalty spot. Grimaldo stepped up, waited, and rolled a left-footed shot straight down the middle of the goal, the kind of finish that carries a peculiar arrogance about it. There is no bluffing when a taker aims for the centre; it is a statement of nerve as much as technique. It was 0-1, and suddenly a match that had promised so little turned lethal.

The second, six minutes later, felt like an execution. Jonathan David collected possession in the centre of the box and clipped a left-footed strike into the bottom-left corner, the assist once more provided by the tireless Grimaldo. Two goals in the space of those closing minutes, both bearing his fingerprints, and Real Sociedad's resistance folded in on itself. The heads dropped. The gaps opened.

There was still time for a flourish. Deep into the fifth minute of stoppage time, Giuliano Simeone raced onto a Dávid Hancko pass on a fast break and swept a right-footed finish into the middle of the net. It was the perfect punctuation mark: a counter-attack executed at pace against a team that had thrown everything forward in desperation. Three goals, all after the 84th minute, and a contest transformed from a draw into a demolition.

Sociedad's slide

For Real Sociedad, this is the sort of defeat that gnaws. To have held Atlético Madrid at bay for so long only to concede three in the final stretch is a wound that leaves a mark on more than the table. It drops them to 12th on seven points, their record now two wins, one draw and three losses, and the numbers tell a bleak story: six goals scored, eleven conceded. A side that cannot find the net and cannot protect a clean sheet in the moments that count is a side treading water.

The manner of the collapse will trouble them most. There was no gradual erosion here, no wave after wave of pressure that finally broke through. Instead, one moment of nerve from the spot cracked the whole structure, and once cracked it shattered. That is a mental frailty as much as a tactical one, and it is the kind of thing that lingers into the following weekend if it is not addressed quickly.

Eleven goals conceded already is a figure that demands attention. The Reale Arena is meant to be a fortress, a place where visitors are made uncomfortable, and yet the closing minutes offered Atlético a free hand. Real Sociedad have work to do, and little time to feel sorry for themselves before the schedule comes calling again.

Atlético climb

For Atlético Madrid, the reward is tangible. Three points lifts them to fourth on ten, their season now reading three wins, one draw and one defeat, with ten scored and six conceded. This is the profile of a side settling into rhythm, one that trusts itself to win the moments that decide tight matches. On an afternoon when little was clicking, they still walked away with everything.

The performance spoke to a certain identity. Not a team that always dazzles, but one that endures, waits, and strikes when the chance appears. Grimaldo's influence was the difference, his penalty and his assist for David the fulcrum of the whole result, while Simeone's late run underlined the venom Atlético carry on the break. To win a game 3-0 having spent so long unable to break the deadlock is a mark of quality and of nerve.

Above them the table is within reach, and results like this are how gaps are closed. A team that turns stalemates into clean-sheet routs does not stay fourth for long if it keeps the habit. Atlético left San Sebastián with more than the points; they left with a reminder of what they can be when the pressure squeezes hardest.

What comes next

The contrast in trajectories could hardly be starker as both sides look ahead. Atlético Madrid depart with momentum, a clean sheet and a scoring burst that will fill them with belief, sitting handsomely placed in the early La Liga standings. The challenge now is repetition: to make the late ruthlessness a signature rather than a one-off, and to keep chasing the sides above them.

Real Sociedad, meanwhile, must regroup with urgency. Sitting 12th and leaking goals, they cannot afford for a defeat like this to fester into a run. The response over the coming weeks will define whether this was a bad afternoon or the beginning of something more worrying. The talent to climb is there; the resilience to hold on when matches tighten is what they must rediscover.

For now, though, the record stands stark and unambiguous. Real Sociedad 0, Atlético Madrid 3, a scoreline forged entirely in the final six minutes and one that will follow both clubs into their next assignments. One side rides high; the other picks itself up off the floor.