ATLETICO MADRID beat Villarreal 2-0 to earn their first win of the La Liga season on Saturday.
Diego Simeone’s side suffered two defeats and a draw in their opening fixtures but produced a far more impressive display to triumph at their Metropolitano stadium with goals from Pablo Barrios and debutant Nico Gonzalez.
The Rojiblancos were forced to bring off Julian Alvarez, Robin Le Normand and David Hancko with knocks, a worry ahead of their Champions League opener at Liverpool on Wednesday.
“Our fans supported us today when we needed it most,“ Atletico skipper Koke told Movistar.
“Hopefully the (hurt) players rest well, we have a very important game against Liverpool.”
Simeone brought midfielder Gonzalez straight into the team after his deadline day arrival from Juventus, as well as handing Antoine Griezmann his first start of the season.
Barrios opened the scoring after nine minutes after a Villarreal defensive error which left Julian Alvarez with the ball in the box. The Argentina international unselfishly squared for Barrios to stroke home.
Villarreal have started the season well but struggled to find a way through an Atletico defence which looked far more solid than in their opening fixtures.
Nicolas Pepe struck the crossbar for the visitors before half-time but that was as close as the Yellow Submarine got.
Gonzalez doubled Atletico’s lead with a header from Marcos Llorente’s cross early in the second half.
Clement Lenglet headed in a third but it was disallowed for a push, as Atletico stayed in the driving seat. – AFP
