Atletico Madrid had 25 attempts at goal but could not find the breakthrough as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Espanyol in LaLiga on Wednesday.

Espanyol are the only team yet to score in LaLiga and they showed no signs of breaking their duck in a one-sided contest at Estadio Civitas Metropolitano.

Yet despite mustering 2.71 expected goals (xG), Atleti were unable to blow the door down.

New signings Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth came close to opening the scoring in the first half, while Rodrigo Riquelme had two goals chalked off for offside, the first after a lengthy VAR check and the second in added time.

13 – @atletienglish have made 13 shots vs Espanyol in the first half, more than any other team without scoring at the half time in the Top 5 European Leagues this season. Impotence#atleticodemadrid #ATMESP pic.twitter.com/Y2Yn51tIlE

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) August 28, 2024

Espanyol’s rearguard held firm as goalkeeper Joan Garcia made seven saves to deny Diego Simeone’s side all three points.

Data Debrief: Sorloth misfiring

Sorloth enjoyed a brilliant campaign with Villarreal last season, but the Norway international has so far struggled to replicate that form for Atletico.

In fact, he has now had his longest run of shots in LaLiga without finding the net (six), with four of those coming in this contest.