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Yeah, this one is definitely a fixture worth keeping an eye on. Last season’s two draws really show that Espanyol knows how to make life difficult for Atlético, even though on paper the gap between the squads looks obvious. Playing at RCDE Stadium is always a tricky atmosphere as well, and Espanyol usually feeds off that home energy.
That said, I think Atlético comes in this season with a bit more hunger. Simeone has been pushing for more consistency, and with the reinforcements they’ve brought in, they should have the edge. For me, the big question will be whether Atlético can break Espanyol’s defensive wall early on — because if they don’t, we might see a repeat of those draws.
Personally, I’d lean towards Atlético grinding out a narrow win this time, something like 1–0 or 2–1, but I wouldn’t rule out another draw if Espanyol manages to frustrate them like before.
And sure enough, Espanyol again became a nightmare for Atletico Madrid, where they lost with a score of 2-1 and had to go home empty-handed without a single point. And not just on paper, if we look further at the statistics of the match, Atletico Madrid excelled everything both in possession and the number of attacks, but that achievement seemed meaningless when the final completion carried out by the attacking loni ateltico madrid was quite bad.
In the match, Atletico took an early lead over Spain, and they were even able to carry the 1-0 advantage until the beginning of the second half, before the goal was finally thick in the 73rd minute, and only a few minutes later, Espanyol managed to turn things around as well as managed to seal the 3 points for the hosts. Atletico Madrid really performed poorly for the inaugural week, even though this match was important enough to be able to increase team motivation.
You predicted the result quite well, but it was unfortunate that the 2-1 win was for Espanyol, not for Atletico Madrid.