ATLETICO MADRID FAILED to get their La Liga title bid off to a winning start, as Rodrigo earned Valencia a 1-1 draw at the Mestalla Stadium on Monday.
Angel Correa gave Diego Simeone’s visitors a 26th-minute lead, but Rodrigo struck in the second half for the home team and last season’s runners-up Atletico failed to find a winner.
There are high hopes at the Wanda Metropolitano that Atletico can muster a serious title challenge, after keeping their key players in the close season and claiming an impressive extra-time win over city rivals Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup last week.
But they were given a tough test to start the campaign at a strong Valencia outfit who will be playing in the Champions League this season for the first time since 2015 after finishing fourth.
“It’s a shame because we wanted to bring the win home and we didn’t manage it,” the 23-year-old Correa, who also scored in Atletico’s opening league game 12 months ago against Girona, told BeIN Sports Spain.
“The effort we put in for the Super Cup isn’t an excuse for us, we know how to repeat that kind of effort. There is a long way to go before talking about it (the title), we must continue to work.”
Simeone gave a La Liga debut to Thomas Lemar, who joined from Monaco for €72 million in July, but the French World Cup winner struggled to make an impression and was hauled off in the 63rd minute.
Atletico moved ahead midway through the first period with a wonderfully-crafted goal.
Antoine Griezmann showed great skill to cut inside and slip a defence-splitting reverse pass to Correa, which Argentinian winger collected in his stride before firing low past home goalkeeper Neto.
Saul Niguez wasted an excellent chance to make it two shortly after half-time when he shot wide, and in the 56th minute when Rodrigo lashed home right-footed after controlling Daniel Wass’s looping header on his chest.
The 27-year-old scored 19 goals for Valencia last season to earn a Spain call-up for the World Cup and his club will need him to continue that form after sending Italian striker Simone Zaza on loan to Torino.
Valencia had opportunities to snatch all three points, but the closest they came to a second goal was when former Arsenal centre-back Gabriel’s header hit the post with 23 minutes remaining.
“We proved that we’re at a very high level against a great opponent and even if there is still some way to go, that’s what we’ll need this season,” said Rodrigo.
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Well done Sir.
You are a credit to your parents and show people that though they can suffer depression that they can still manage it. Your laying it out straight. Great meas in you.
Nice one. Great to see someone like this talk about these problems
Who are the bottom feeding monkey shite who neg a comment like this?
I just gave my last comment the thumbs up….s’nice
Fair play to Alan coming out and talking about depression. A brave thing to do for such a high profile figure
@James – Regarding the thumbs down, i read a post recently where someone said they didn’t mean to ‘thumb down’ a comment, but the problem was that they were viewing the Journal on a smartphone and they would press the thumbs down by accident when they were scrolling through the comments.
At least i hope that’s the case for Emsy’s post :-)
Well done Quinny! For a player who’s nickname was cheeky and to to survive for so long in a career that’s perceived to be “macho” it’s an even bigger credit to you for speaking out. Hopefully it’ll make life easier for others to do the same.
Great stuff. Each day is an opportunity for “self help” or “self pity” the decision comes slowly to those with depression. Thankfully by talking about it people turn a huge corner and help others. Well done.
Another great sportsman hitting his depression head on, depression is of biblical proportions in this country and only now are we talking about it, the reasons why people hid it in the first place in actual fact was because they really did not know what they had…. Nothing to be ashamed of. I am 44 , ex soldier, hard as nails ( well not really) been suffering for 7 years , no meds at the moment as I have an underlying problem… But hey bad days are bad, good days are few but help is coming soon.
Well done Alan . I hope the media give it huge coverage especially in the sports pages as alot of the time they are the only pages young people read and they do need to understand more than anything else that depression is nothing to be ashamed of or fear . Sadly our graveyards are full of young men who were to afraid to seek help
Great post Jerry, well said
If Quinny saves one person from years of depression and missed positive experiences what a man he is and deserves all life can bring him keep it up lad : )
Great to see sufferers open up and talk so frankly about it. As someone who suffers from depression, I take great comfort in watching someone get it out in the open. Depression comes in many forms and at different levels of severity.
Stereotypically we think of sufferers locked away in a dark room, crying and drinking heavily, listening to Morrissey. In reality, it’s very different. Reason , logic and rational thinking are thrown out the window and instead you are bombarded with negative thoughts, that you believe. Men are much more likely to suffer as we think that looking for help is a weakness, and that we can do it by ourselves. We can’t.
The road to recovery isn’t as daunting as you may think. Pick up the phone and talk to someone.