Atletico Madrid beat Espanyol 1-0 thanks to late Baena goal

Atletico Madrid beat hosts Espanyol 1-0 in the match between the two sides in matchday nine of the 2026/27 LaLiga season, held on 17 October 2026, kicking off at 15:00 Damascus time.

The match's only goal came in the 89th minute through Álex Baena, with which Atletico Madrid settled the contest in their favour in the final minutes.

Álex Baena won the man of the match award with a rating of 8.2, after featuring for 28 minutes and scoring one goal.

Atletico Madrid dominated proceedings with 71 percent possession compared to 29 percent for Espanyol, and had 19 attempts compared to 10 for their hosts, including 6 shots on target against two for Espanyol. Atletico Madrid won 12 corners compared to 4 for Espanyol, while expected goals stood at 1.03 for Atletico Madrid against 0.5 for Espanyol. The match saw no red cards, while Espanyol received two yellow cards compared to 5 yellow cards for Atletico Madrid.

The match was officiated by referee Alejandro Hernández.

With this win, Atletico Madrid moved up to second place in the table with 19 points from 8 matches, having achieved 6 wins, one draw and one defeat, scoring 18 goals and conceding 8. In contrast, Espanyol's tally remained at 8 points in 12th place after 8 matches, during which they achieved two wins and two draws and suffered 4 defeats, scoring 11 goals and conceding 11.