22′ Atletico continue pouring on the pressure with another corner, taken by Carrasco. It looks to be a good take delivered to the corner of the six-yard box, but Albiol uses his experience to get there first.
21′ The referee has gone over to the touchline to show Simeone a yellow card for his pestering. With 70 minutes to go, he’ll have to find a way to keep his cool or risk being given his marching orders.
19′ Llorente wins the ball after a clean tackle on the edge of Villarreal’s penalty area, but Mandi does just enough to get a block to the midfielder’s shot – allowing Estupinan to clear the danger.
17′ Simeone is furious on the touchline as the referee allows play to continue despite an apparent injury to Carrasco. Villarreal continue to attack as is their right to do so as the winger slowly climbs back to his feet but it won’t stop the fiery Atleti coach from sharing his view.
15′ Lemar’s corner from the right is swung into the near post, but Gerard Moreno is back to do his defensive work, nodding away the delivery.
13′ Atletico are comfortable to cede possession to their opponents, preferring to hit on the counter-attack even at home. Despite the large gulf, the hosts have looked the more dangerous side, holding Villarreal to without a shot in the opening 15 minutes.
11′ A win would take Atletico back to the top of LaLiga, two points above a cluster of teams on seven points including Real Madrid. Last year’s winners have looked the best of all the teams in LaLiga to start the year, with Simeone continuing his impressive run at the helm.
9′ A second corner in quick succession is taken by Lemar, who opts to put it into the penalty area directly from the spot this time. The delivery searches for Gimenez, but the centre-back fails to redirect the ball towards goal.
7′ Lemar’s corner from the left is a short set-piece routine, but the final ball into the box is an easy one for the Villarreal back line to defend.
5′ Atletico win the ball high on the left-hand side, but Koke’s early cross forward is headed out of the penalty area by Mandi. Hermoso gets a chance to fire the ball back towards the goalkeeper, but the shot goes high and wide.
3′ A miscommunication gives the ball straight back to Villarreal after Koke’s misplaced pass forward looking for Correa is put behind the run of the striker, allowing Capoue to glide across and win it back.
1′ Atletico Madrid get the match underway from the kick-off!
Villarreal make two changes to the XI that earned a 0-0 draw with Espanyol last Saturday. Estupinan replaces Pedraza at left-back and Pino returns to the side on the right wing, replacing Moi Gomez.
Atletico Madrid make three changes from their 1-0 victory over Elche last time out. Hermoso regains his place in defence replacing Saul, while Trippier reprises his familiar role on the right flank, sending De Paul to the bench. The final switch is in attack, where a change of shape sees Kondogbia dropped for Suarez.
VILLARREAL SUBS: Jorge Cuenca, Francis Coquelin, Paco Alcacer, Alfonso Pedraza, Nikita Iosifov, Sergio Asenjo, Filip Jorgensen, Dani Raba, Arnaut Danjuma Groeneveld, Ruben Pena, Vicente Iborra, Mario Gaspar.
VILLARREAL XI (4-4-2): Geronimo Rulli; Juan Foyth, Raul Albiol, Aissa Mandi, Pervis Estupinan; Yeremy Pino, Manu Trigueros, Etienne Capoue, Alberto Moreno; Gerard Moreno, Boulaye Dia.
ATLETICO MADRID SUBS: Benjamin Lecomte, Rodrigo de Paul, Saul Niguez, Matheus Cunha, Sergio Camello, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Sime Vrsaljko, Giuliano Simeone, Felipe, Renan Lodi.
ATLETICO MADRID XI (3-5-2): Jan Oblak; Stefan Savic, Jose Gimenez, Mario Hermoso; Kieran Trippier, Marcos Llorente, Koke, Thomas Lemar, Yannick Carrasco; Angel Correa, Luis Suarez.
With 15 minutes to go before kick-off, let’s take a look at how the two sides are lining up – starting with our hosts!
Two games, none scored and none conceded is how Villarreal have started their domestic campaign since losing to Chelsea on penalties in the UEFA Supercup. The recent history between these two sides won’t give Unai Emery any confidence either, with Villarreal failing to score in four their last five contests; two of which were 0-0 draws.
The reigning LaLiga champions have looked good in the opening two weeks, winning both of their matches conceding just once – from the penalty spot. Angel Correa has been the man in form for Diego Simeone’s side, scoring all three of Atletico’s goals so far this season as they look to repeat their title for just the second time in club history, and the first since 1949-1951.
Hello and welcome to our LIVE commentary of the LaLiga fixture between Atletico Madrid and Villarreal!
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