Atletico held, Valladolid make La Liga winning return

Villarreal and Atletico Madrid have combined for four goals in an action-packed first half but neither side could find a winner in the second as they settled for a 2-2 draw in their La Liga opener.

A new-look Atletico team were without Stefan Savic, Mario Hermoso, Memphis Depay and Alvaro Morata and went behind on the road after 18 minutes when Arnaut Danjuma scored a solo goal from a tight angle.

Marcos Llorente levelled for Atletico two minutes later with a fierce strike only for hosts Villarreal to get back in front nine minutes before halftime thanks to a goalkeeping mistake by keeper Jan Oblak.

Oblak flapped at a cross and the ball hit the unsuspecting Koke and bounced into the net for an own goal.

Alexander Sorloth, who joined from Villlareal this month, equalised in first-half added time for Atletico. The visitors tried to shake things up in the second half by sending on four Argentine players, including new signing Julian Alvarez from Manchester City, but they couldn’t make a decisive impact.

Joao Felix was not in the Atletico squad amid reports that he is on the verge of joining Chelsea.

Earlier on Monday, Real Valladolid marked their return to the Spanish top flight with a 1-0 home win over fellow newly-promoted Espanyol.

Valladolid, whose majority owner is former Brazil striker Ronaldo, scored through Raul Moro midway through the first half.

The 21-year-old winger cut in from the left and was lucky to see his shot take a deflection and wrongfoot the Espanyol goalkeeper.

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