Antoine Griezmann's first-half double was enough to secure a 2-0 victory for Atletico Madrid over Galatasaray in the Champions League Group C opener at the Turk Telecom Arena this evening.
The visitors dominated from the first whistle, pinning the hosts into their own half despite the cauldron of noise created by the home fans, but their efforts on goal inside the first quarter of an hour were restricted to a single Luciano Vietto drive from distance.
However, just three minutes later they were ahead thanks to Griezmann, the Frenchman side-footing past Fernando Muslera from Juanfran's pull-back to temper the noise in the stadium.
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Diego Simeone's side kept up the pressure with Saul Niguez firing over from 20 yards, and they deservedly doubled their lead midway through the half when captain Diego Godin headed Koke's corner across the box and Griezmann found himself unmarked to volley home his second.
Rather than prompting a capitulation, that second goal belatedly sparked the hosts into life and they responded well with Lukas Podolski firing wide on his weaker right foot before Wesley Sneijder's shot was well saved by Jan Oblak.
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The threat of a revival continued in the early stages of the second period as the same pair of players fired off target, but Atletico wasted a glorious opportunity to put the game to bed when Jackson Martinez fired a tame shot at goal instead of playing in Vietto after a fast break.
Further chances came and went for Galatasaray through Selcuk Inan and Podolski but Atletico had done enough to withstand the pressure and see out an impressive away win to start their Champions League campaign.
Tom Nightingale
