Pablo Barrios scored twice and Atletico Madrid beat the Seattle Sounders 3-1 on Thursday in the Club World Cup.
Giuliano Simeone found Barrios at the top of the penalty box in transition to open the scoring in the 11th minute.
Madrid pushed the lead to 2-0 in the opening minutes of the second half as substitute Axel Witsel scored off an assist by Robin Le Normand in the 47th.
Albert Rusnak got Seattle on the scoreboard in the 50th, but Barrios got his second of the game in the 55th to restore Madrid's two-goal lead.
The attendance was 51,636 at Lumen Field, which has a capacity of 68,740.
Atletico Madrid was initially awarded a penalty kick around the 35th minute, but it was overturned after video review determined that the foul occurred outside the box.
“The players showed courage today. I mean, they were down, and they were able to come back and still fight and play brave. You know Atletico’s strength is in their transition, their counterattacks, but we weren’t afraid to attack. And that opened us up a few times, but at the end of the day, the players played to win, and that was courage,” said Seattle Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer.
“The most difficult thing in football is creating chances. We created many opportunities today, but weren’t fortunate enough to score more goals. But that’s in the past now, and we’re already focusing on Botafogo. We will need to do as well or better than today. We want to qualify for the knockout stage, so we need to keep winning,” said Atletico Madrid midfielder Koke.
