Atletico Madrid have made a habit of taking an early lead in the 2025/26 season so far, to the extent that they are the team that have scored the most goals in the first 15 minutes in the major leagues.
Atletico Madrid returned to La Liga action by claiming a solid 2-0 win at Real Betis, which was a good opportunity to bounce back after suffering a heavy 4-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Champions League last week.
One of the most crucial things to ensure victory is to start the match on the right foot, and there is no better way to do that than by breaking the deadlock to put the team ahead.
Diego Simeone’s team seems to have taken the idea of starting matches with intensity to try to get ahead on the scoreboard to heart, to such an extent that of the 18 goals they have scored in La Liga so far, seven of them have come in the first 15 minutes.
In fact, the ‘Colchoneros’ lead the five major leagues’ ranking of teams that have scored the most goals in the first 15 minutes of matches this season so far, ahead of Paris Saint-Germain (5), Lazio, Leipzig, Inter and Leverkusen (4).
On the second matchday of La Liga against Elche, the Madrid team took the lead in the 8th minute through Sorloth, although the match ended in a 1-1 draw after Rafa Mir’s equaliser. The following matchday, Giuliano Simeone broke the deadlock in the 7th minute, but as in the previous match, a goal from Carlos Vicente secured a draw for Alaves.
Once again, on matchday 4, Diego Simeone’s team got off to a good start with an opening goal from Pablo Barrios in the 9th minute, which this time helped the team claim a 2-0 victory over Villarreal. Against Rayo Vallecano, the Colchoneros did it again, taking the lead in the 15th minute through Julian Alvarez, who scored a late hat trick to cancel out Rayo’s two goals and claim a 3-2 victory.
The Madrid derby was no different for the ‘Rojiblancos’, who punished Real Madrid in the 14th minute with a header from Le Normand, before going on to score four more goals and thrash their neighbours 5-2. The sixth and final match in which Atletico Madrid scored before the 15th minute in domestic competition was in the 1-1 draw against Celta, with an own goal by Carl Starfelt.
It is worth noting that between the victory against Real Madrid and the draw against the Galician team, the ‘Colchoneros’ also opened the scoring before the 15th minute against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League, with a goal from Raspadori in the 4th minute.
Finally, the ‘Colchoneros’ added another early goal to their tally this season when Giuliano Simeone opened the scoring in the third minute against Real Betis, before Baena extended the lead before half-time and secured Atletico’s victory at the Andalusian side’s home ground.