All eyes were on Antoine Griezmann ahead of kick-off, with the Frenchman one goal shy of reaching 200 in LaLiga. The Atlético star would have an early say in proceedings here, but not in the way he would have wanted.
Alex Baena thought he had fired the hosts in front with a superb angled finish from Julian Alvarez’s excellent through ball, but Griezmann was deemed to be interfering with play from an offside position, and the effort was overturned. Undeterred, Griezmann was denied by Sergio Herrera from close range moments later, as Atleti looked to turn the screw.
Alessio Lisci’s side grew into the contest, though, and Víctor Munoz was not too far away from giving the visitors the lead when he made a surging run towards goal and rifled a long-range strike just wide.
Jan Oblak was then forced into action for the first time, denying Lucas Torro with an outstretched leg at his near post after the Osasuna midfielder met Ruben García’s enticing free-kick. It had been a largely frustrating first half for the hosts, with Diego Simeone forced into replacing the injured Nico Gonzalez with Giuliano Simeone just before half-time.
Griezmann would have to wait a little longer to reach his next goalscoring milestone after being replaced by Conor Gallagher 10 minutes into the second half, while Alexander Sorloth replaced Koke as part of a double change.
With Griezmann withdrawn, Alvarez was eyeing up the headlines himself, as he latched onto Marcos Llorente’s excellent through ball before being denied by Herrera’s outstretched leg. The Argentine then picked out Sorloth in the box, but the Norwegian headed agonisingly wide from close range.
The Atleti breakthrough eventually came in the 69th minute in a goal orchestrated by Giuliano’s surging run down the right before teeing up Thiago Almada to apply the simplest of finishes from inside the six-yard box.
The Metropolitano crowd were buoyant, but given that the hosts had dropped 11 points from winning positions this season – more than any other team in Europe’s top five leagues – they had a right to feel nervous. Those nerves were shredded further when Oblak made an outstanding save to thwart Ante Budimir.
Ultimately, the Rojiblancos had done enough, on this occasion, to secure all three points and claim a ninth win in their 10 home LaLiga games against Osasuna under Simeone (L1), while Los Rojillos’ dismal record in the Spanish capital continued having now failed to emerge victorious in any of their previous seven away games against Madrid clubs (D2, L5).
Flashscore Man of the Match: Marcos Llorente (Atletico Madrid)