Atletico Madrid faced a 2-1 defeat against Espanyol, marking the first opening-day loss for Diego Simeone in LaLiga. Julian Alvarez scored first, but second-half goals from Miguel Rubio and Pere Milla sealed the victory for Espanyol. This defeat ended Atletico's unbeaten streak of 15 opening matches since 2009. Simeone expressed frustration due to a lack of efficiency and control, especially in the second half, where the team failed to register a single shot on target. He remains optimistic about positives to build upon despite the loss.
We lost, but I'm holding on to the positives that emerged. We lacked efficiency and were more decisive in the good moments of the match. We could have scored after Julian, but football is wonderful; the opponent took advantage of the set-pieces.
Except for the result, which is the most important thing, we had some good things. But we also needed to be more effective, which is necessary to compete.
Atletico had largely been in control until Espanyol found their equaliser, including a dominant first half. However, they struggled in the final third after the break, failing to have a single shot on target.
We didn't expect the game to slip away from us like that. Surely we have to avoid this situation because we lost control of the match.
Collection
[
|
...
]