Atlético Madrid 1 - Recreativo Huelva 1

Atlético: Burgos; Otero, Santi, Hibic, Sergi; Albertini, Emerson (Movilla 55'); Aguilera, Correa (Contra 44'), Luis García (Javi Moreno 75'); Fernando Torres. 4-2-3-1.
Recreativo: César; Galán, Loren, Alex, Espinola; Oscar Arpón (Cubillo 55'), José Mari (Quique Romero 75'), Iker Begoña, Benítez; Bermejo, Raúl Molina (Yago 88'). 4-4-2.

Team changes: Atlético: Burgos, Santi, Aguilera for Esteban, García Calvo, Contra / Recreativo: Galán for Merino.

Goals:
0-1. 27. Raúl Molina. Took pass from Bermejo and drilled ball past keeper.
1-1. 36. Luis García. High volley into net after ball fell to him on edge of area.

An incident packed game at the Vicente Calderón stadium, where Atlético Madrid could only draw 1-1 with a Recreativo Huelva side who are already fighting for survival. Luis Aragonés opted to bring Mono Burgos back in goal, despite a good performance by Esteban the week before, and gave a first start to team captain Santi in defence. However the manager must have rued his decision over the number one spot when Burgos messed around with the ball at his feet early on, and then was forced to push over Raúl Molina as he ran in to tackle him. The eccentric keeper made up for his mistake though by diving to save Bermejo's spot kick, holding the ball aloft afterwards to milk the crowd's applause like a Roman gladiator displaying the head of a defeated opponent.

The incident threw off the Atlético players though, and a few minutes later the nippy Molina ran on to a through ball from Bermejo to shoot under the keeper and score. It was a repetition of their match in the second division the season before, and left capacity crowd stunned. As in that game though, Atlético came back to equalise, although the goal was once again shrouded in controversy as the Recre players protested strongly to debutant referee Moreno Delgado that Fernando Torres had handled the ball in the play leading up to Luis García's goal.

Atlético were left with ten men when Otero was red-carded three minutes before half time for a crunching tackle on Bermejo, and Aragonés sacrificed Correa (who had just hit the bar) to bring on Contra. The crowd were incensed though after the break when a similar tackle by José Marí on Sergi was only punished with a yellow card by Moreno. He did however send off the visitor's Galán for holding back Fernando Torres in the penalty area five minutes from the end, giving Atlético the chance to win the game. However after consulting with his manager, keeper César dived to his right and stopped the kick from Torres, and substitute Javi Moreno blasted the rebound over the bar. It was Recre's first point of the season, and once again they had spoilt Atlético's night.