4 stats from Atlético Madrid’s 2-0 victory at Sevilla

Atlético Madrid secured their first win at Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán since February 2018 in style. The 2-0 victory over Sevilla helped the Rojiblancos bounce back from the defeat to Real Madrid in the derby before the international break.

Here are four stats from the game which help us to understand exactly what happened in the Andalusian capital of Seville.

554 - Koke’s appearances for Atlético Madrid

No player has made more appearances for Atlético Madrid than their captain, Koke. He had been level with legendary figure Adelardo Rodríguez, but with his appearance against Sevilla, he now owns the record himself.

He has scored 47 goals and recorded 111 assists across those 554 games, playing 43,255 minutes for the club. That’s just over 30 days of action in an Atlético Madrid shirt. And, of course, those figures don’t even include his 66 outings and 7 goals for Atleti’s B team.

4,256 - Minutes since Marcos Llorente’s last goal

Marcos Llorente’s 29th-minute goal, which opened the scoring for Atlético at the Pizjuán, was his first since May 1st 2021, and his first in 4,256 minutes of football for Atlético de Madrid. That is some record for a player who had just scored 13 goals during the 2020/21 season.

The Spain international has not hit the same heights since, in part due to his role filling in as a right-wing-back and a right-back. Saturday’s game showed him back at his lethal best in the final third, offering a real cutting edge. He made a real impact, terrifying the inexperienced Sevilla defence.

100% - Saúl’s dribble completion and tackle success rates

Saúl Ñíguez looked at home, back in a familiar position as the interior midfielder. The midfielder completed 94% (31/33) of his passes on Saturday, but also maintained a 100% completion rate with his dribbles (2/2) and won every tackle (3/3) he attempted.

With each passing game it feels we see Saúl improve and pick up more confidence, and he was one of those who likely will have been most pleased to see a return to a system (the 4-4-2) which he knows so well from the past. He could still prove a very crucial player to have in the squad this season.

3 - Chances created by Matheus Cunha

Replacing João Félix in the 11 for the first time this year, Matheus Cunha (one of the Portuguese’s close friends) took his chance as Álvaro Morata’s strike partner. The Brazilian created three chances in 70 minutes, as many as João had in both of his last two appearances, against Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid, combined.

Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images

Cunha was full of energy, and it was his interception and flick that led to Morata breaking away to score Atlético’s second goal three minutes before the hour. He made a difference in attack and will certainly feel he did enough to win the starting spot ahead of a midweek Champions League trip to Belgium, where Group B leaders Club Brugge await.