Alvarez had free-kick confidence ahead of opener in Atletico rout

Julian Alvarez backed himself to score with the direct free-kick that opened up the floodgates in Atletico Madrid’s 6-0 rout of Sparta Prague.

Atletico claimed their third Champions League win of the season in style on Tuesday, and Alvarez’s brilliant free-kick opened the scoring after just 15 minutes.

The Argentine doubled his tally just before the hour, with Marcos Llorente and substitute Antoine Griezmann – on his 100th Champions League appearance – also scoring before Angel Correa got in on the act with a brace of his own late on.

The dominant performance, which saw Atletico rack up an expected goals (xG) total of 3.15, moved them up to 13th in the standings.

Alvarez was certainly happy with Atletico’s biggest-ever away winning margin in a major European competition, surpassing a 5-0 win over Kayseri Erciyesspor in the UEFA Cup in October 2007.

“A great game, lots of goals, so I’m very happy. We needed it,” Alvarez told Movistar Plus.

“I was confident that I was going to score with that free-kick, I think it was a great goal that opened the game and helped us to keep on winning.

“It was a matter of time and minutes to fit all the pieces together. Little by little the whole team is feeling better. We have to continue on this path and keep working. The group is doing very well so we’re going for more.”

Julian Alvarez? MVP pic.twitter.com/UhkqfQ5ish

— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) November 26, 2024

Alvarez scored what was only the fourth direct free-kick goal by an Atletico player in the Champions League, and the first since Sergio Aguero netted against Chelsea in November 2009.

Having lost two of their previous four matches in the competition, the resounding victory also provided reason for coach Diego Simeone to celebrate.

“Anything that means winning makes me happy. If the team has the chance to keep playing like this and scoring goals, so much the better,” he said.

“We kept taking the game where we wanted it to go, we accumulated chances and Julian’s goal from a free kick was a great goal.”

Alvarez made a slow start to life at Atletico following his move from Manchester City, but has picked up form since the end of September and is now on nine goals in all competitions.

“Julian is a player with the highest level, who has played for River Plate, Manchester City and Argentina,” Simeone added.

“He is going from strength to strength since joining us, and we expect the best from him.

“He is young, there is good hope for the present and the future. Hopefully, we can accompany him so that he can continue to grow.”