With Diego Simeone serving his touchline ban from the stands, Atlético Madrid put their heartbreaking late loss to Liverpool on matchday one of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) firmly behind them, as they made it 10 wins in their last 11 home games in the competition after claiming a 4-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Given that Atleti defeated arch-rivals Real Madrid 5-2 and Frankfurt beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 6-4 over the weekend, many neutrals will have expected another goalfest here.
Albeit in a very one-sided way, they were right to do so, and it didn’t take long for the hosts to get their noses in front, with Giacomo Raspadori’s deflected cross reaching Giuliano Simeone on the right wing.
Raspadori then had the presence of mind to make his way into the Frankfurt box, and when visiting defender Arthur Theate inadvertently stabbed Simeone’s square ball into the Italian’s path, he made no mistake.
Soon afterwards, Raspadori spread the play wonderfully after intricate close control, but after bringing the ball down smartly and getting into the area, Simeone neglected the chance to pull the trigger when he could have scored.
But Atleti were relentless, and doubled their lead on 33 minutes, as Antoine Griezmann wasn’t able to turn in Alvarez’s near-post corner, but centre-back Robin Le Normand reacted to tuck the loose ball home through Jonathan Burkardt’s legs.
And the game was seemingly over in first-half stoppage time, as Alvarez burned his way past Robin Koch before his cutback was swept in by Griezmann.
Frankfurt did belatedly register their first shot on target early in the second half through Burkardt, before the in-form Can Uzun fired wastefully wide.
Those two moments may have given the German side belief that they could get back into the contest, because shortly afterwards, a monstrous switch out to the left found Ansgar Knauff, whose feather-like touch with the outside of his right boot picked out Burkardt, who applied the finish for his fifth goal in four games.
That goal sparked a Frankfurt triple substitution, with Simeone, banned due to his red card at Liverpool, no doubt getting a little twitchy.
He needn’t have worried, though, as after a spellbinding move ended with Griezmann’s goal being chalked off for handball against the Frenchman, Simeone made sure that Atleti got their fourth, clinically heading in off the woodwork from Alvarez’s corner.
Alvarez did eventually get on the scoresheet late on, though, converting a penalty following Aurèle Amenda’s handball, with Atleti underlining why they could go deep in this competition.
The result means that both teams here have a win and a loss in this season’s league phase to their name, while Frankfurt’s last 10 games have all featured at least four goals.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid)