On the Villareal pitch, Atlético saved the point of a draw (2-2). Julian Alvarez made his first appearance.
Atletico Madrid and Villarreal played out a 2-2 draw on Monday at the end of a spectacular match at the Estadio de la Ceramica to close the first day of La Liga.
A complicated start for the Madrid club, a disappointing fourth last year, and which wants to be ambitious this season with the recruitment of Argentinian striker Julian Alvarez, Franco-Spanish central defender Robin Le Normand and Norwegian striker Alexander Sorloth.
In difficulty, the Colchoneros had to come back into the game twice, first by responding quickly to the opening goal by Dutchman Arnaut Danjuma (18th) thanks to a powerful strike from Marcos Llorente under the bar (20th), then by equalizing at 2-2 through Sorloth, who scored with a header against his former club just before half-time (45th + 5), after conceding an own goal from Koke (36th).
They could have benefited from a penalty at the start of the second half for a header from former Marseille player Eric Bailly on Argentinian Angel Correa, which was not sanctioned (51st), but were especially lucky at the end of the match when Villarreal were pushing to win.
Coming into play in the 71st minute, Ivorian Nicolas Pépé, former winger for Angers, Nice and Arsenal, almost gave his new team three points by curling a free kick into the crossbar of Slovenian goalkeeper Jan Oblak (83rd).
Diego Simeone’s men appeared to be content with a draw, despite the debut of their star signing Julian Alvarez and the introduction of Argentinian world champion Rodrigo de Paul into midfield.
Antoine Griezmann, the club’s all-time top scorer, was discreet and failed to influence the match for his return to the competition after France’s elimination in the semi-final of Euro 2024 against Spain (2-1) at the beginning of July.
