A powerful transfer campaign has automatically turned Atlético Madrid into a dark horse in the race for the title — the Madrid side now has a significantly better chance of getting ahead of Real Madrid or Barcelona. Meanwhile, Villarreal had a poor pre-season, highlighting their defensive issues.
Out of six friendlies, Villarreal managed only one win, conceding a total of 12 goals in these matches. Their final friendly against Brighton (0:4) could have entirely crushed fan’s hope — Brighton was much stronger in attack (5-17 in shots). It's also worth noting that it was Atlético who took Villarreal's top scorer: Alexander Sørloth, who nearly clinched the La Liga Golden Boot with 23+6.
Interestingly, the Norwegian risks being just a backup option at Atlético after they signed Julian Álvarez. The Argentine became the most expensive transfer of the summer, although in the friendly against Juventus (2-0), goals came from players who might leave (Joao Felix and Angel Correa scored). In their four friendlies, the team scored 12 goals — their attack got a much-needed boost.
In the previous season, Villarreal hardly posed any problems for Atletico Madrid in their head-to-head meetings (1-3 and 1-2). The Madrid side will kick off their La Liga campaign with a victory, proving their status as title contenders. You could bet on a straight win at odds of around 2.00, but to play it safe, we'll go with a handicap of (0).
|
Marcelino Garcia
|
coach | ||
| Player | Matches | Goals | |
|
In squad
|
|||
|
Diego Conde
|
gk. | 0 | 0 |
|
Iker Álvarez de Eulate
|
gk. | 0 | 0 |
|
Adrià Altimira
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Alfonso Pedraza
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Eric Bailly
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Juan Foyth
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Kiko Femenía
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Raúl Albiol
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Sergi Cardona
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Willy Kambwala
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Daniel Parejo
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
|
Denis Suárez
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
|
Pape Gueye
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
|
Ramón Terrats
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
|
Santi Comesaña
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
|
Álex Baena
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
|
Arnaut Danjuma
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Ayoze Pérez
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Gerard Moreno
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Ilias Akhomach
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Nicolas Pépé
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Yéremi Pino
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Diego Simeone
|
coach | ||
| Player | Matches | Goals | |
|
In squad
|
|||
|
Horatiu Moldovan
|
gk. | 0 | 0 |
|
Jan Oblak
|
gk. | 0 | 0 |
|
Axel Witsel
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
César Azpilicueta
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Javi Galán
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
José María Giménez
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Nahuel Molina Lucero
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Reinildo Mandava
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Robin Le Normand
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Santiago Mouriño
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Arthur Denis Vermeeren
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
|
Germán Valera
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
|
Javier Serrano Martínez
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
|
Koke
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
|
Marcos Llorente
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
|
Pablo Barrios
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
|
Rodrigo De Paul
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
|
Tom Lemaire
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
|
Alexander Sorloth
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Antoine Griezmann
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Borja Garcés
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Giuliano Simeone Baldini
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
João Félix
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Julián Alvarez
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Marcos Paulo
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Rodrigo Riquelme
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Samuel Dias Lino
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Víctor Mollejo
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Ángel Correa
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
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