Diego Simeone lauded Alexander Sorloth's versatility after the Atletico Madrid striker's sensational showing against Real Sociedad.

Sorloth scored all of Atleti's goals in a 4-0 rout at the Metropolitano Stadium on Saturday, as Simeone's team consolidated their grip on third place in LaLiga.

The Norwegian completed the fastest hat-trick in LaLiga history inside the opening 11 minutes, before adding further gloss on the half-hour mark.

"I was very happy with the team's first half in general. Alex, of course, is a whole different matter," Simeone told reporters.

"He had a fantastic night, especially those first 45 minutes, where he decisively finished every ball that came his way.

"That allowed us to take control of the game and take it to a place we never imagined possible before the game started."

Despite becoming Atleti's leading scorer in the league this season with 17 goals, Sorloth has started only 13 top-flight games this season.

"If we go by the numbers, he's scored more goals coming on in the second half – except for today, obviously," Simeone said.

"What I like about him is that he's important in every moment and context of the game you can imagine.

"If we need to attack, he gives us a strong offensive weight in the area. If we counter-attack, he has good passing for that. And if we're closed down and have to defend, his physicality gets us out of uncomfortable situations.

"He's playing the game the team needs and is making the most of his football and his goalscoring."

Sorloth, who joined Atleti from Villarreal last August, gave credit to his team-mates for contributing to his clinical performance.

"The balls were falling at my feet, my team-mates were giving me really good passes," he said after putting one of his old clubs to the sword.

"I'm very happy. I hope to be in LaLiga for many more years and have more games like this. I struggled to get the season off to a good start.

"In October and November, I started to improve. Now my team-mates know me better.

"It was the same situation as last season when I scored four goals against Real Madrid and had a shot hit the post. Today was like a flashback."

Sorloth was responsible for five of Atleti's 13 shots, with his haul coming from 0.98 expected goals as he displayed a clinical level of finishing.