Madrid, Aug 23 (IANS): French striker Antoine Griezmann scored early on a free kick and goalkeeper Jan Oblak made a key second-half save to lead Spanish football club Atletico Madrid to a 1-0 victory here over Las Palmas in the opening weekend of the 2015-16 La Liga season.
The game at the Vicente Calderon Stadium on Saturday was tightly contested throughout and featured few goal-scoring chances, Efe reported.
One chance came in the 15th minute when Paraguayan defender Antolin Alcaraz took down Griezmann just outside the penalty area.
The Frenchman then blasted a free kick that probably would have been grabbed by Las Palmas goalkeeper Raul Lizoain, but it deflected off one of his defenders and found its way into the back of the net.
The Canary Islands-based outfit almost completely lost the ball-possession battle in the first half but it started to set up some opportunities for the equaliser over the final 45 minutes.
Its best chance, however, was snuffed out by Oblak, who made a tremendous save in the 72nd minute of a shot by defender Aythami Artiles.
In other action on Saturday in La Liga, Espanyol topped Getafe 1-0 and Deportivo de La Coruña and Real Sociedad played to a 0-0 draw.
Malaga and Sevilla kicked off the new Spanish league season on Friday with a a 0-0 draw.