Alejandro Grimaldo leads Atletico Madrid to 2-0 La Liga win at Levante

Grimaldo’s opener sets Atletico on course

Atletico Madrid beat Levante 2-0 in La Liga, answering the key question of who controlled the result: Atletico converted both goals despite Levante producing more attempts and the higher expected-goals figure. The visitors led 0-1 at half-time.

Alejandro Grimaldo opened the scoring in the 36th minute, making it 0-1. Giuliano Simeone Baldini then doubled Atletico’s advantage in the 62nd minute, finishing the final scoring move at 0-2 after an assist from Alejandro Baena Rodríguez. Atletico’s substitutions followed five minutes later, with Lee Kang-In and Julián Álvarez replaced by Jonathan David and Alexander Sørloth.

Levante had 20 total shots to Atletico’s 10, including 13 attempts inside the box compared with Atletico’s two. Their expected goals also led 1.31 to 0.6. However, Atletico had 55% possession, completed 491 accurate passes to Levante’s 380 and recorded five shots on goal to Levante’s four, helping explain the 2-0 scoreline.

The event log records a yellow card for Levante coach Luís Manuel Ferreira de Castro in the 18th minute. Grimaldo was the standout performer, earning an 8.3 rating across 90 minutes, with one goal and two shots on target.

Going into the match, Atletico were ranked #2 with 25 points from 10 games, while Levante were #15 with 10 points from 10 games. Atletico were 15 points ahead, with Barcelona leading on 27 points.