Diego Simeone's winning debut with Atlético Madrid: watch the goals | OneFootball

Atlético de Madrid needed two spectacular moments to break open their debut at the start of La Liga in Spain. At the Wanda Metropolitano, Diego Simeone’s team beat Málaga 2-0 on the opening matchday of the 2026/27 season and began the campaign with three points thanks to two stunning goals that came late in the game.

It was not an easy outing for the Madrid side. After a first half with few chances and a match that for long stretches was uncomfortable for the home team, Simeone found the answers on the bench. Kang-in Lee and Álex Baena came on in the second half and ended up being the ones who broke the Andalusian side’s resistance.

Simeone had opted from the start for a lineup featuring several young players and footballers looking to seize their chance at the beginning of a season that brings several changes to the squad. But it was from the bench that he found the pieces that would end up changing the course of the match.

The first came in the 70th minute and it was a true individual masterpiece. Kang-in Lee received the ball wide on the right, cut inside, beat defenders one after another with a series of feints and, when he found space, unleashed a superb left-footed strike from outside the box. The ball flew beyond the goalkeeper’s reach to make it 1-0 and spark celebrations at the Metropolitano. In that way, the South Korean, one of the signings for this season, enjoyed a debut he will find hard to forget.

With the lead, Atlético found the spaces that had been missing for much of the afternoon. And there was still another goal to add to the best highlights of the opening matchday.

Alex Baena stepped up to take a free kick from an ideal spot for a player with such a powerful strike. His shot cleared the wall and ended up in the net to make it the final 2-0. Another stunner, and the match was over.

So, two players who started the match on the bench ended up deciding the team’s opener for Simeone. Atlético de Madrid had struggled to break down a Málaga side that returned to the top flight of Spanish football after eight years, but it found individual quality at the right moment.

The win also meant a positive start for an Atlético side once again beginning the season with the aim of staying in the fight with the biggest names in Spanish football. This time, it did not need to dominate from start to finish: it was enough to hold firm through the uncomfortable moments and find on the bench two players capable of changing the story.

Argentine forward Julián Álvarez was not called up by Simeone for this first match of the Spanish tournament. The striker will have to wait to make his official appearance in the new season. However, his absence did not stop the Madrid side from finding other attacking solutions to settle a match that had remained deadlocked until the closing stages.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.