Joao Felix Sparks Atletico Comeback Against Eibar to Keep Up Perfect Start
BARCELONA, Spain — Joao Felix scored his first Spanish league goal for Atletico Madrid to spark a 3-2 comeback win over Eibar as his team kept its perfect record on Sunday.
Atletico's 19-year-old Portugal forward swept in a pass from strike partner Diego Costa in the 27th minute at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium after the hosts had trailed by two goals.
Atletico broke its club record to sign Felix from Benfica after triggering the 126 million euro (around $140 million) buyout clause in his contract this summer. It made most of that money back from the exit of Antoine Griezmann to Barcelona. Felix scored several impressive goals in an excellent preseason.
Felix was very active in the first half which saw Atletico reeling from Eibar's strong start. He twice drew contact in the area that the referee said wasn't enough to consider a penalty, before fading as the match wore on.
Victor ''Vitolo'' Machin and Thomas Partey then came off the bench to score goals in the second half to complete the comeback.
Diego Simeone's Atletico is the only team to take a maximum of nine points in the first three rounds. Defending champion Barcelona has four points in eighth place while it waits for Lionel Messi to recover from injury and debut this season.
Eibar went ahead on early goals by striker Charles and a deflected long strike by defender Artiz Arbilla.
Vitolo scored to help win points for Atletico for a second straight week as a substitute. Partey finally put Atletico ahead in the 90th when he scrambled the ball past two defenders before knocking it through the legs of goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic.
Simeone lauded the effort of his squad, which was overhauled this summer.
''We have to remake this team. We want to win, win and win even more,'' Simeone said. ''It is not easy when eight players leave and eight new players arrive for the team to still compete. We have to remain calm.''
