Stalemate in La Liga opener between Villarreal and Atletico Madrid

Villarreal CF and Atletico Madrid kicked off their La Liga campaigns with an entertaining 2-2 draw, marked by a flurry of first-half goals.

Atletico, missing key players like Stefan Savic, Mario Hermoso, Memphis Depay, and Alvaro Morata, fell behind early.

Arnaut Danjuma opened the scoring for Villarreal in the 18th minute with a brilliant solo effort from a tight angle.

However, Atletico responded quickly as Marcos Llorente equalized with a powerful strike just two minutes later.

Villarreal regained the lead nine minutes before half-time, thanks to a blunder by Jan Oblak.

The Atletico goalkeeper failed to deal with a cross, resulting in an unfortunate own goal off Koke.

But Alexander Sorloth, who recently joined Atletico from Villarreal, drew the visitors level in stoppage time of the first half.

Despite bringing on four Argentine players, including new signing Julian Alvarez, Atletico couldn't find a winner.

Notably, Joao Felix was absent amid rumours of a move to Chelsea.