Goals from Antoine Griezmann, Marcos Llorente and Koke secured Atlético Madrid a 3-0 win over Girona in their first home game of the LaLiga season on Sunday.
Atlético produced a solid performance at the Civitas Metropolitano stadium to see off last season’s surprise package and move to four points after a draw at Villarreal in their league opener.
Griezmann opened the scoring in the 39th minute when he sent his free kick into the bottom corner after Girona goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga was shown a yellow card for touching the ball with his hand outside the penalty area.
“The fans and the players were really looking forward to coming home after such a long time. A perfect night and let’s keep it up,” Griezmann told DAZN.
“I waited to see where the goalkeeper was and saw that there was a small gap at the far post and with a bit of luck the ball went in.”
Julián Álvarez and Connor Gallagher made their debuts for Atlético Madrid in front of their home crowd. Álvarez, who made his first LaLiga appearance at Villarreal last week, started but was unable to make an impact. Gallagher, a new signing from Chelsea, came on in the 58th minute.
Three minutes after the break, Llorente doubled the lead with a powerful long-range shot past Gazzaniga after a solo run.
“(Llorente) is like that, he always gives everything for the team,” said Griezmann. “No matter what position you put him in, he gives 100% and those are the players we need at the club.”
Captain Koke, who came on as a substitute early in the second half, sealed the defeat with a tap-in in stoppage time from a Llorente cross, his first goal since the 2021–22 season.
“The goals came at the worst possible time for us. We did some very good things in the first half. The team goes home with a heavy defeat, but there are positives,” said Girona midfielder Oriol Romeu.
Diego Simeone’s side will next host newly promoted Espanyol on Wednesday, while Girona will face Osasuna a day later.
“We all have the same enthusiasm, we have to keep it up. We have to give everything in training and then in the matches,” Griezmann added. (Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City; Editing by Clare Fallon and Pritha Sarkar)
