Photo by Rico Brouwer/Soccrates/Getty Images

A chaotic second half at the Metropolitano played into the visitors? hands. Atlético Madrid?s start to the season has been a mixed bag, with the latest draw against Espanyol adding on to their troubles. This season (a long three games) has been shaky to say the least, and while the league table does not mean much at this stage, five points from three games falls short of the early expectations for the side.
A convincing victory over Girona appeared to set the season back on track, but Wednesday?s result against newly-promoted Espanyol is another step back for Diego Simeone?s side.

? Diego Simeone: ?The draw" It concerns me, as always, but I can?t stop valuing the good play the team showed. When you have five goal-scoring chances like we did? The chances we created were due to good play, not by chance. We were expecting to win, but they defended well,? pic.twitter.com/IRgZtU4uvm? Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) August 28, 2024
The home fans certainly did not have a 0-0 result in mind especially considering that the Rojiblancos had the ball in the back of the net twice through Rodrigo Riquelme, though he was offside on both occasions. The youngster was one of Atleti?s brightest sparks on the night, but his decision to tap Koke?s shot in over the line shortly before the hour was questioned and turned some of the attention away from his brilliant performance otherwise.
It is hard to pinpoi...