When it comes to early goals this season, Atletico Madrid leads Europe.

To the extent that they are the side with the most goals in the first fifteen minutes of the major league season, Atletico Madrid has developed a pattern of seizing the lead early in the 2025–26 campaign. After losing badly to Arsenal 4-0 in the Champions League the previous week, Atletico Madrid had a strong chance to recover with a 2-0 victory against Real Betis to get back into La Liga action.

Breaking the deadlock to put the side ahead is the best approach to start the game on the proper note, which is one of the most important things to guarantee success.

It appears that Diego Simeone’s squad has adopted the notion of starting games Seven of the 18 goals Diego Simeone’s team has scored in La Liga so far have come in the opening 15 minutes, suggesting that they have taken the strategy of starting games with urgency in an attempt to pull ahead on the scoreboard very seriously.

Actually, the ‘Colchoneros’ are in first place among the five major leagues in terms of goals scored in the first fifteen minutes of games this season, surpassing Paris Saint-Germain (5), Lazio, Leipzig, Inter, and Leverkusen (4).

Sorloth gave the Madrid squad the lead in the eighth minute of their La Liga match against Elche on the second matchday, but Rafa Mir’s equalizer ended the game in a 1-1 tie. On the following matchday, Carlos Vicente’s goal sealed a draw for Alaves, but Giuliano Simeone broke the tie in the seventh minute. On matchday four, Diego Simeone’s team started well once more with a goal from Pablo Barrios in the ninth minute, which helped them defeat Villarreal 2-0 this time. The Colchoneros triumphed 3-2 over Rayo Vallecano after gaining the lead in the 15th minute thanks to a late hat-trick from Julian Alvarez, who cancelled out Rayo’s two goals.

The ‘Rojiblancos’ did the same in the Madrid derby, punishing Real Madrid with a header from Le Normand in the 14th minute before stomping their neighbors 5-2 with four more goals. Carl Starfelt’s own goal in the 1-1 draw with Celta was the sixth and final domestic tournament goal scored by Atletico Madrid before the 15th minute.

It is noteworthy that the ‘Colchoneros’ also took the lead against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League prior to the fifteenth minute, thanks to a goal from Raspadori in the fourth minute, in between their win over Real Madrid and their tie with the Galician team.

Last but not least, they have a strong desire to dominate the scoreboard, as seen by the fact that seven of their 18 La Liga goals have come in the first 15 minutes.