Monday night saw the first La Liga Matchday wrap up for the week, with two intriguing if tight affairs.
Real Valladolid 1-0 Espanyol
Valladolid kicked off their season with an invaluable three points over survival rivals Espanyol, ahead of a trip to the Santiago Bernabeu. A vibrant Pucela took advantage of a rocking atmosphere to outplay the visitors in the first half, with Selim Amallah and Raul Moro wreaking havoc on the break. The latter would get the breakthrough in the first half with a deflected effort, but Amath Ndiaye could have made it two on the stroke of the break.
Los Pericos competed better in the second half, and Javi Puado couldn’t make the most of a half-chance, and substitute Irvin Cardona came close shortly after his introduction. As the game reached its climax though, Valladolid prevented that from being a big finish. They kept Espanyol at arm’s length and held on until the end.
Villarreal 2-2 Atletico Madrid
Atletico manager Diego Simeone handed debuts to star signings Robin Le Normand and Alexander Sorloth, with Julian Alvarez coming off the bench in a thrilling clash. Los Rojiblancos wrought havoc down the right side, with Samuel Lino forcing a good save out of Diego Conde, and then Reinildo Mandava having a goal ruled out.
After early pressure from Atletico, it was the Yellow Submarine that took the lead. A long ball in behind found Arnaut Danjuma, who sunk Axel Witsel into the box, shifted a yard, and found an angle to finish. Just a minute later though, Marcos Llorente had the beating of Sergi Cardona and was released by nice interplay, with Antoine Griezmann sending him in behind. Llorente drove towards goal and unchallenged, put it into the roof of the net from the near post.
Five minutes before the break though, a cleared corner was returned to Alex Baena, who whipped a ball in from the left – with enough mustard to deceive Jan Oblak, taking a touch off Koke Resurreccion on its way into the next. Returning back to his old club though, Sorloth did get on the scoresheet to level before the break, with a brilliant early ball from Pablo Barrios putting the ball on his head.
He was surrpisingly withdrawn at the half for Angel Correa, and the second half had much more of a rhythm. The home side increasingly had marginally the better of it, with Atletico having been better in the first period. Nicolas Pepe threatened a dream debut with a free-kick off the bar, but eventually two tiring sides settled for a point in the first game of the season. Alvarez came on in the closing stages, but couldn’t make too much of an impact.
