"Atletico Madrid picked up their first victory of the 2025-26 LaLiga season as they downed Villarreal 2-0 to ease the pressure on Diego Simeone. Having recorded their worst start to a top-flight campaign, Atleti delivered a much-needed performance and victory to move up to eighth in the early-season standings. They made a lightning start when Pablo Barrios collected Julian Alvarez's clever reverse pass inside the box before picking out the bottom-right corner with just nine minutes gone."
"But Villarreal responded well to going behind, with Alberto Moleiro striking twice in quick succession at Jan Oblak's goal, but he was unable to test the Atleti goalkeeper. Oblak was, however, beaten in the first-half stoppage time, but he was left relieved to see Nicolas Pepe's stunning free-kick from distance rattle against his crossbar. And Simeone's men doubled their advantage seven minutes after the restart when Marcos Llorente's cross to the back post was met by Nico Gonzalez's towering header."
Atletico Madrid recorded their first win of the 2025-26 LaLiga campaign, defeating Villarreal 2-0 to relieve pressure on Diego Simeone and rise to eighth place. Pablo Barrios opened the scoring after Julian Alvarez's clever reverse pass, with the goal arriving inside the first ten minutes. Villarreal had moments of threat, including Alberto Moleiro efforts and Nicolas Pepe's free-kick that struck the crossbar, but Jan Oblak was largely untested. Nico Gonzalez doubled the lead early in the second half with a towering header from a Marcos Llorente cross on his debut. Atletico generated 1.17 xG from eight shots and extended an unbeaten LaLiga run against Villarreal to six matches (W3 D3).
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