Tag: Julian Alvarez

Real Madrid said on Tuesday that Atletico Madrid had rejected the club’s offer of 150 million euros ($173 million) for Argentine forward Julian Alvarez.

“After reviewing and evaluating the offer, Club Atletico de Madrid has expressed its gratitude for the proposal… and has rejected it,” Real Madrid said in a statement.

A World Cup winner with Argentina in 2022 and formerly of Manchester City, the 26-year-old Alvarez joined Atletico in 2024. He is under contract until June 2030, with a release clause estimated at 500 million euros.

Included in Argentina’s squad for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026, Alvarez scored eight goals last season in La Liga and 10 in the Champions League, where Atletico were eliminated in the semi-finals by Arsenal.

“After studying and evaluating it, Atletico de Madrid thanked the club for the offer made, in keeping with the good relations between our two clubs, but rejected it,” Real Madrid said in a statement.

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Atletico Madrid scoffed at the Real statement.

“You may have confused politeness with gratitude, but to be clear: we don’t thank you for anything. We neither studied nor considered any offer for Julian. You make us laugh even more than Barcelona do,” Atletico said in reply to Real in a social media post.

Re-elected on Sunday as Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez had promised during his election campaign that he would make a big-name signing.

Spanish media had reported that the target was Bayern Munich winger Michael Olise; however, the German club said they would not be selling their French international.

“If Florentino Perez wants to send us an offer, which has not happened so far, he can save himself the trouble,” said Bayern president Herbert Hainer.

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Julian Alvarez scored a hat-trick to help Atletico Madrid snatch a thrilling 3-2 win over Rayo Vallecano in La Liga on Wednesday.

The Rojiblancos fell behind in the 78th minute, but Alvarez, who had opened the scoring, struck twice more in the final stages to claim three points for Diego Simeone’s side.

The Argentina international helped Atletico secure only their second win from six league matches during a shaky start to the campaign.

Atletico are ninth and trail league leaders Real Madrid by nine points ahead of Saturday’s derby clash against Xabi Alonso’s side.

“We needed to get three points to get confidence from winning, we’ve been playing well but because of small details we weren’t getting good results,” Alvarez told Movistar.

“We have to keep working and improve some things to get on a winning run.”

Alvarez, who missed a penalty in Atletico’s frustrating draw at Mallorca last weekend, opened the scoring at the Metropolitano stadium.

The 25-year-old, who joined from Manchester City in 2024, volleyed home from Marcos Llorente’s looping cross after 15 minutes to get the ball rolling.

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The striker should have netted a second before half-time but fired high over the crossbar from Nahuel Molina’s perfectly-judged ball.

Visitors Rayo made the hosts pay in first-half stoppage time when Pep Chavarria scored one of the goals of the season, a bullet from distance which ripped into the top corner past Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

Rayo substitute Alvaro Garcia sent his team ahead when he played in on goal, rounding Oblak before squeezing home from a tight angle.

It enraged Atletico, and they began pouring forward, quickly finding an equalizer.

Rayo goalkeeper Augusto Batalla kept out an effort from Simeone’s son Giuliano, but Alvarez was on hand to blast the rebound home from point-blank range.

Giuliano crashed a shot off the crossbar as Atletico pushed for a winner.

With Rayo rocking, Alvarez completed his treble in the 88th minute, producing a superb finish to beat Batalla from the edge of the box.

After grumbling about being substituted during the Mallorca game, Alvarez showed his coach against Rayo why he is best left on the pitch.

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