Atletico Madrid beats Real Madrid 3-1 in La Liga to end rival’s perfect start to the season

Atletico ended its rival’s perfect start on Sunday with a 3-1 win in their first Spanish league derby of the season.

Atletico Madrid’s Alvaro Morata celebrates after scoring his side’s third goal during the Spanish La Liga match between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid. | Photo Credit: Manu Fernandez/AP

Atletico Madrid happily made sure Real Madrid wasn’t perfect anymore.

Atletico ended its rival’s perfect start on Sunday with a 3-1 win in their first Spanish league derby of the season.

Álvaro Morata scored twice and Antoine Griezmann once to hand Madrid its first loss after six straight victories in all competitions this season. Toni Kroos scored the lone goal for the visitors.

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The result left Catalan clubs Barcelona and Girona at the top of the standings with 16 points each from six matches. Defending champion Barcelona rallied late to defeat Celta Vigo 3-2 on Saturday, while Girona beat Mallorca 5-3.

Madrid stayed one point behind in third place. It had won five consecutive league games, and on Wednesday beat Union Berlin in the group stage of the Champions League. Madrid was the only team with a perfect league record so far.

Atletico, sitting fifth with 10 points, was coming off a 3-0 loss at Valencia for its first defeat of the season. Diego Simeone’s team had two wins and a draw in its other previous matches. Its league game against Sevilla earlier this month was postponed because of bad weather.

“We played a great match,” Simeone said. “The team recovered its spirit and, when that happens, it doesn’t matter the rival.”

All three goals by Atletico on Sunday at Metropolitano stadium came from headers. Morata scored in the fourth and 46th minutes, while Griezmann got on the board in the 18th. Madrid’s goal came in the 35th after Kroos cleared a defender before finding the net from outside the area.

Madrid had a goal disallowed for offside in the 44th.

“We didn’t get off to a good start, didn’t defend well,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “And with 2-0 they took control, defending well and taking advantage of quick transitions. They were better than us in that aspect.”

Ancelotti couldn’t count on Vinícius Júnior, who was set to return from injury but was dropped from the squad at the last minute because of a stomach illness.

Real Sociedad beat Getafe 4-3 at home with Japanese forward Takefusa Kubo scoring the opening goal for the hosts two minutes into the match, and Villarreal drew 1-1 at Rayo Vallecano with the teams scoring the goals a minute apart early in the first half.

Also Sunday, 10-man Las Palmas picked up its first win by defeating visiting Granada 1-0 with a stoppage-time goal by Kirian Rodríguez, and Real Betis drew 1-1 with Cadiz at home.