Football
Atlético Madrid come within two points of Real
Winners against Rayo Vallecano on Sunday, the Colchoneros threaten the Merengue in La Liga.
Published
Antoine Griezmann and Atlético did the right thing against Rayo Vallecano.
AFP
Atlético Madrid won the derby against Rayo Vallecano 2-1 on Sunday night in La Liga Matchday 28 and are within two points of Real Madrid, second with 59 points but defeated 3-2 by Villarreal on Saturday night.
The Colchoneros materialized their first two chances of the game: Nahuel Molina opened the scoring in the 22nd minute and then headed straight for his bench to hold up a shirt of Angel Correa, who was out due to the recent death of his mother, three minutes before Mario Hermoso doubled the bet with a header from a corner (25th).
Atlético saw their end of the game facilitated by the exclusion on a direct red card (after video viewing) of French central defender Florian Lejeune for a foul in the position of last defender on Alvaro Morata shortly after the hour mark (64th) . That didn’t stop the Spanish international from incomprehensibly missing the 3-0 goal in the 69th minute, alone against the keeper.
In the final, Fran Garcia nevertheless reduced the gap in the 85th minute with a ball catapulted from the left into Jan Oblak’s net from 25 meters.
winning streak
With this victory, Diego Simeone’s players confirm their excellent pass: the Rojiblancos have not lost in La Liga since January 8 against FC Barcelona (1-0), a total of nine wins and three draws in three months .
Eliminated from all other competitions, they now pursue the objective of worrying Real, clinging to its second place since the World Cup.
FC Barcelona, in the lead with twelve points ahead of Real, receives Girona on Monday (9 p.m.) at Camp Nou with the opportunity to widen the gap to fifteen points.
The Rayo, on the other hand, is moving away a little from the qualifying places for European competitions. Long in the fight for sixth place this season, Andoni Iraola’s men are now ninth, eight points behind Betis (6th, 45 points).
Rain of goals and reds
Earlier in the day, a shower of goals fell on the José-Zorrilla lawn in Valladolid. The “Pucelanos” led twice, but were caught on the wire, by Kosovar center forward from Mallorca Vedat Muriqi, who converted a penalty in the 94th to snatch the equalizer 3-3, and deprive Valladolid of a victory that would have done him the greatest good in the fight for maintenance.
Betis, for their part, saw a different kind of rain fall on them: the Sevillians were penalized with two red cards, one to Sergio Canales in the 38th minute, the other to Aitor Ruibal in the 60th. minute, and had to finish with nine this meeting which they ended up losing 2-0.
With these three points on the outside, the Cadets offer themselves a breather in the bottom of the classification, while Betis, sixth, moves away from the qualifying places for the Champions League.
Finally, Edinson Cavani’s Valencia CF lost again, 2-1 on the field of Almeria, and stalled in the red zone, in the first relegation position.
(AFP)