A magical goal ensured a winning start for Atlético
Memphis Depay came on as a substitute and scored a stunning goal to help Atletico Madrid beat Granada in the last match of the first round of La Liga. The hosts won 3:1, although they had to work hard for the three points. Alvaro Morata opened the scoring for Civitas Metropolitano before the break. In the 63rd minute, Samu equalized, but shortly after came Depay's bomb shot that restored the lead to Atlético. Deep into added time, Marcos Llorente also scored. Of Atletico's new signings, only Cesar Azpilicueta appeared in the starting line-up, forming the trio in defense alongside Mario Hermoso and Stefan Savic.
In forward positions, Diego Simeone chose Antoine Griezmann and Morata. Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco and Marcos Llorente started on both flanks. The "Dushekchii" started aggressively, but Granada defended well. As early as the 6th minute, the captain of the home team, Koke, got injured and the young hope Pablo Barrios came in his place. Morata was quite nervous and on several occasions he got into a fight with rival footballers. The Spanish international had the first opportunity to score, but failed to head Carrasco's soft cross.
Rodrigo De Paul missed the next chance in front of Andre Ferreira's goal, but in general, until the break, Atlético played rather sluggishly and could not find a way to deal with the compact Andalusian team. In the 45th minute, Llorente's attempted cross turned into a shot, but Ferreira was alert. At the very end of the half, Jesus Waiejo deflected the ball at Morata's feet and this time the experienced striker was merciless - 1:0.
The second half started with a good intervention by Jan Oblak, who saved Samu's header. The youngster continued to harass Atletico's defense, which was already down to four after the introduction of Caglar Soyuncu in place of Thomas Lemar. In the 62nd minute, Carrasco overtrusted his technique and lost the ball in front of the penalty area. Gonzalo Villar's pass to Samu followed and the striker's debut goal in La Liga.
It wasn't long before Atlético took the lead again. Soyuncu launched an attack that went through Carrasco and Depay didn't hesitate to shoot from over 25 meters and Andre Ferreira only watched the ball go under the crossbar. The visitors did not give up and tried to get a draw, but they found it difficult against Simeone's experienced squad, who brought on the struggling Saul Niguez and Angel Correa.
At the end of the match, Atlético's counterattacks led to a series of clear chances. Miraculously, the score remained unchanged until the last seconds when Correa broke into the penalty area, several defenders of the visitors could not stop him, and Llorente took advantage of the commotion and coolly converted to make the final 3-1. The Madrid players were the only ones to score three goals at the start and thus topped the standings. In the next round, Simeone's men will have a tough visit to Betis, while Granada will be looking for first points at home to Rayo Vallecano.
