In an odd scheduling quirk — influenced by The Weeknd’s concerts coming to the Metropolitano next week — Atlético de Madrid drew a strange scheduling slot to open the 2026/27 season. A midweek in opener in LaLiga is not exactly the ideal way to kick things off, but Atlético made the most of it: a 2-0 win and a clean sheet in game one, and that did not always look like the likely outcome.
It’s great to have you back, Atleti.
An unfamiliar XI
Atlético’s starting lineup on Wednesday had three players who came up through
the Madrileño reserve team last season, plus one more just back from loan in Carlos Martín — four of 10 outfield players, essentially. That is a genuinely unsettled first 11 for the opening day of a league season.
Arnau Ortiz, who was recently handed the number 16, started up front as a wide forward of sorts and looked okay overall. To his credit, he even created the most chances in the game (3). But my pick of the group was Dani Martínez at left-back. He took to the flank with an aggressive streak, attempting eight dribbles and completing four, the highest of the game. He also amassed a whopping 88 touches, second only to Dávid Hancko, and was the only youngster to play the full 90 minutes. That is an especially welcome sight given how barren that position has felt for Atleti in recent memory. Alejandro Grimaldo will start, but if Martínez can keep building on a start like this…even just as squad depth, that’s more than the left-back slot has offered in a while.
Jorge Domínguez’s story is its own, separate from the rest. Starting at right-back, he became the youngest player ever to debut for Atlético Madrid. For a bit of perspective: when Domínguez was born in December 2009, Koke had already been part of Atleti’s first-team squad for three months. Anybody else feel old yet?
On the pitch though, it was a tougher outing — a first-half yellow card and a torrid time against Joaquín Muñoz, fortunate to avoid a second booking before the break. Not the cleanest 45 minutes of football, but it rarely is for a 16-year-old (not named Lamine Yamal) thrown into a league fixture.
As for the actual football, for the first hour, the unfamiliarity across the XI showed. This was a team searching for coherence and chemistry, flashing just enough to get the crowd up off their seats over the kids but never really threatening a break. Four shots in the first half. One on target. An xG of 0.1. Possession was basically even, 49-51 in Málaga’s favor, and for long stretches this had the makings of one of those eerily-familiar stale draws where Atleti could find a way through a well-organized block.
The midfield held up its end. Koke and Pablo Barrios kept things moving, and Barrios in particular was excellent — all action, cutting out attacks on his own, sharp all evening. But there’s only so much two midfielders can do when the players around them are short on the usual quality. Ademola Lookman had arguably the toughest time of the lot. This was supposed to be the game where he started building that talismanic presence Atleti need from him, and instead he barely saw service, finishing the first half without a single shot as the team’s central attacking threat. Not ideal, but forgivable in an eleven that unfamiliar.
Lee Kang-In fully charged
Around the hour mark, Diego Simeone reshuffled. Having already brought on Marcos Llorente for Domínguez at the break, he threw on Lee Kang-In, Giuliano Simeone and Álex Baena in one go. The structure shifted, but more importantly, so did the energy.
There has been plenty of scrutiny on this attack heading into the season, and I will leave certain notably absent names out of it for now. What I will say is that the influx of fresh legs around the hour mark changed the complexion of the match almost instantly.
Kang-In was the standout. Whoever put a Duracell ad up on the substitutes board deserves a raise, because his cameo was exactly that — jumpy, charged, relentlessly involved. He finished with three shots, joint-most in the match, and from the moment he stepped on, he was dropping deep, drifting into the half-spaces, getting himself into the pockets just outside the box. It quickly became clear that if anything creative was going to happen, it was going to come off his left foot.
And it did. Shaking off one marker, beating two more, finding an ocean of space on the edge of the box before curling one into the side netting. The finish had the Metropolitano on its feet, and rightfully so. There was a touch of young Antoine Griezmann in the way he carried it from the wing and made the toughest finishes look routine. Fitting, too, given he is the one now wearing the number 7 that Griezmann left behind.
Big shoes. Encouraging first step into them.
Baena was the other standout, and he looked like the version of himself that Atleti signed him to be — sharp, direct, itching to create. Thirteen minutes after Kang-In’s moment, in the 85th, Baena had his own: a free kick struck with real conviction, into the top corner. It even had the added beauty of the neat bounce in off the crossbar, the toppest of bins as some would say.
Between the two of them, and with a sharp Barrios and a steady Koke behind them, there is real potential brewing here. Lookman looked considerably more dangerous once that pair came on too, finally getting a few extra touches in the box. The transfer window is not shut yet, but even without more additions, this attack has flashes of something worth getting excited about.
Other notes
The Good: Solid xVibes to start the year, even with the nervy opening stretch. Hancko looked settled from the off. Jan Oblak came up with a couple sharp saves when called upon, which is exactly what you want from him even as the defense in front of him improves. Barrios was superb — can you tell by how much I have mentioned him already? Three interceptions, eight recoveries, covering every blade of grass. This really does feel like the season he takes that midfield and makes it his own. Somebody bubble wrap him, please.
Morten Hjulmand, brought on for Koke, looked composed in his own right, moving well and linking up smoothly with the rest of the midfield. Robin Le Normand had a decent confidence-boosting game too, even though starts will be hard to come by once Marc Pubill and Cristian Romero slot in. Defensively, Atleti kept things tight throughout — just five shots conceded all game for an xG of 0.15, which is exactly the kind of control you want against lesser opposition, even if you’d have liked the attack to be more clinical in punishing it.
Areas to watch: The supporting cast still looks lean. Today’s substitutes were all probable starters, and once you start filling in the other pieces there’s not that much quality left on the bench. With a squad this light, Atleti need to make the most of the games where three points are there for the taking, especially at home.
Giuliano’s role is the one that genuinely concerns me. Good energy, good intensity, all the traits you want from someone who’s come up through this club — but is he really the dependable option to take this team forward in his current role? Pushed further forward as a wingback with Llorente also pressing on, he lacked rhythm and even the usual spark, bright in some flashes but unable to sustain anything. There is a real risk of him drifting into a support role this season, and if that support role is wingback, that is obviously not where his game translates best — especially with the attack already stretched thin.
Alexander Sørloth remains the other name outside Lookman and Ortiz in the striker department, and this is a player that the club were looking to move this window. Not something that they could afford at the moment, unfortunately, barring something special in the last couple of weeks.
This also felt like a missed opportunity for Lookman to plant a flag early. He got into good positions and probably should have had a goal despite the lack of service, and while he linked up well with the fresh legs once they arrived, it was not his best outing. Two shots, both on target — one from distance, the other a well-struck effort but well saved. Better nights will need to come, but there is time.
Overall, though, a promising core forming from Hancko through Barrios to Koke and now Kang-In and Baena — we will talk about the flip side later.
