First-half blitz helps Atletico Madrid to convincing victory over Sevilla in LaLiga

Atletico were on the front foot from the first whistle, and were ahead within four minutes after Alex Baena swept home from an acute angle after being slotted in by Lee Kang-in.

Sevilla’s Robbie Ure wasted a golden opportunity to immediately respond, heading just wide of Jan Oblak’s post, though that was all the hosts had to show for their efforts in the opening 15 minutes. 

They certainly came more into the game as the first half wore on, with Kike Salas drilling a long-range effort just wide.

Despite the pressure on Atleti, they stood firm and went further ahead when Ademola Lookman managed to squeeze his low shot in at Odysseas Vlachodimos’ near post to silence the home support.

Oblak was soon called into action at the other end when Peque Fernandez rifled an effort on target, but the game was effectively over as a contest on 33 minutes when Baena bagged his second after he was allowed to take aim from outside the box and fire home through a crowd of players.

Five minutes after the break, Lookman steered the ball into an empty net, but Atleti were denied their fourth thanks to the assistant’s flag.

With an hour played, Sevilla were still creating chances in the faint hope of mounting a comeback, but Ure again wasted a decent chance to get Sevilla on the scoreboard.

Their persistence eventually paid off in the 67th minute when Miguel Sierra acrobatically connected with a loose ball to power a left-footed shot into the net and score his first goal for the club. 

As they pushed for a second, they left themselves light at the back, and Sevilla were indebted to Vlachodimos as he palmed away Pablo Barrios’ goalbound header.

Atleti were perhaps fortunate to survive a late penalty appeal, as yet another defeat in this fixture for the Andalusians meant the loss of their 100% start to the season.

Atleti were able to put the Julian Alvarez controversy to one side to storm to the top of the table, for 24 hours at least, by registering a seventh win in the last 10 head-to-heads (D1, L2). 

Flashscore Man of the Match: Alex Baena (Atletico Madrid)

Catch up on the match stats with Flashscore.