Diego Simeone was left relieved after Atletico Madrid earned their first LaLiga win of the season with a 2-0 home victory over Villarreal. 

Pablo Barrios put Atletico ahead in the early exchanges after a setup from Julian Alvarez, firing the ball into the bottom corner.

Then, early in the second half, new signing Nicolas Gonzalez sealed the win for Atletico by heading in a cross from Marcos Llorente.

Only Kylian Mbappe, with 13 goal involvements, and Ante Budimir, with 11, have contributed more to goals at home in LaLiga during 2025 than Alvarez, who has been involved in 10 goals — scoring eight and assisting two.

Having endured their worst start to a LaLiga season since 2009-10, Simeone’s side can now at least head into their Champions League opener against Liverpool this week with some confidence.

"It wasn’t just another day. After only two points from three matches and playing at home with our fans needing a win, it felt like a good moment to be close to the boys and share that small window of joy until tomorrow at 10, when we’ll start thinking about Liverpool," said Simeone. 

"The same relief we’ve been feeling based on what I said about the responsibility of the club and the team. The team deserved a little more; football had given us two points at the start and we really needed to get three.

"The team played well and interpreted the game very well against a team that was doing very well. They are very good on the counter-attack, but I think we controlled the game from start to finish."

Simeone's side ended Villarreal’s nine-game unbeaten run in LaLiga, which stretched back to April.

“The match in general was very good, very consistent. We didn’t have those moments where the opponent controlled the game," Simeone added.

"There were a few situations in the first half that we could have handled better, but Villarreal are also very good, and hopefully we can continue in the same vein as we did today.”