Simeone relieved after Atletico’s first away win of the season

Diego Simeone expressed his joy after his Atletico Madrid side registered their first away win of the season with a 2-0 victory at Real Betis.

Giuliano Simeone opened the scoring after just three minutes before Julian Alvarez assisted Alex Baena in first-half stoppage time.

Since the start of last season, Alvarez has been involved in 29 goals for Atleti in LaLiga (23 goals, six assists), with only Kylian Mbappe (47), Robert Lewandowski (33) and Raphinha (32) directly contributing to goals more often in the competition.

Simeone has also been involved in four goals in his last five LaLiga matches (one goal, three assists), as many as in his previous 18 appearances in the Spanish top-flight (two goals, two assists).

Atleti had previously drawn away games to Alaves, Mallorca and Celta Vigo in the league while losing on the road to Espanyol in their opening match of the season.

Simeone believes Atletico deserved more from their previous away trips in LaLiga this season, but was glad to see his side win three points on Monday.

“[I’m] happy because the team played a very good first half, where we could have gone with a bigger lead,” said Simeone. “We also had a great save by [Jan] Oblak, from a close-range shot.

“We couldn't score the third goal, which would have given us more peace of mind, and we had to endure and work in search of the third goal, which we didn't find.

“But with a great collective effort from those who started and the guys who helped us later, in the final stretch of the match.

“With Espanyol we also had a good first half, with Mallorca too. We repeated what we did those days, but today we managed to score goals. When you score goals, decisiveness brings you closer to victory, and today it appeared.”