Lee Kang-in arrives at Atletico with all-or-nothing ambition

Lee Kang-in has set Atletico Madrid an uncompromising target ahead of their LaLiga opener against Malaga: win everything.

The South Korea international joined Atletico from Paris Saint-Germain in a €40 million move this summer, becoming the headline arrival in an ambitious recruitment drive that has also brought in Cristian Romero, Morten Hjulmand and Alejandro Grimaldo.

Speaking at his official unveiling, Lee said: I'm very happy to join this great club. I come with a lot of desire to help the club win titles. My ambition is to win everything.

Lee returns to Spain after previously playing for Valencia and Mallorca. He said he had wanted to come back to the country where he grew up and believes Atletico's supporters can expect a committed effort from him.

I've got a lot of ambition. We are going to work hard to be able to give a lot of joy to all Atletico fans, he said.

Experience of winning at PSG

The midfielder arrives with a substantial record of success. During his time at PSG, Lee scored 16 goals and supplied 16 assists in 124 appearances, while helping the French club win 12 trophies, including back-to-back Champions League titles over the last two seasons.

His playing time was restricted by PSG's wealth of attacking options, with Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Bradley Barcola and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia competing ahead of him. At Atletico, Lee has inherited the number seven shirt previously worn by club great Antoine Griezmann, who left for Orlando City as the team's all-time leading scorer with 212 goals.

Lee acknowledged the shirt's history but said his focus would remain on his daily work. As we all know, the number seven at Atleti is a special number that has been worn by many legends. I try not to think about it, I think about the day to day so I can help the team.

Atletico begin against promoted Malaga

Atletico are the first of Spain's traditional big three to begin their league campaign, with Malaga visiting the Metropolitano on Wednesday. Malaga are back in the top flight for the first time since 2017-18 and have spent only €300,000 on Juan Cruz, Fernando Calero and Jose Salinas during the transfer window.

Atletico finished fourth last season, but head coach Diego Simeone stayed in charge after speculation over his future. The club now begin the new campaign looking to respond to a disappointing league finish.

Jan Oblak could make his 400th LaLiga appearance, a milestone that would make him the 11th goalkeeper to reach that mark and the first foreign goalkeeper to do so.

Atletico favoured to start with victory

Atletico have won their last five LaLiga meetings with Malaga, keeping four clean sheets in that run. Simeone's team have lost only once on the opening matchday in his 14 full seasons in charge, while Malaga have begun six of their last eight LaLiga campaigns with defeat.

Malaga's Chupe scored 25 goals from an expected-goals total of 19.4 in the Segunda Division last season. Only Racing de Santander's Asier Villalibre recorded a larger positive difference between goals and expected goals in the competition.

Despite Atletico's six defeats in their last 10 LaLiga matches last season, the hosts are heavily favoured to win the opener. The stated win probability gives Atletico a 69% chance of victory, compared with 12.3% for Malaga and 18.7% for a draw.