crucial fixtures with a comfortable 3-0 La Liga
home victory against Almeria on Saturday.
Atletico Madrid started what could be a season-
defining run of fixtures with a convincing 3-0 La
Liga win against Almeria at Vicente Calderon on
Saturday.
Mario Mandzukic scored an early penalty before
teeing up two first-half goals for strike partner
Antoine Griezmann, as Diego Simeone's side
cruised past their struggling visitors – although
they played the last few minutes with 10 men
after Guilherme Siqueira was sent off for a
second booking late on.
It was still a welcome win for the champions,
who currently sit third behind rivals Real Madrid
and Barcelona having lost to Celta Vigo last time
out.
They face Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA
Champions League last 16 on Wednesday before
back-to-back meetings with fellow top-four
contenders Sevilla and Valencia.
The home side's intentions were clear from the
outset, but the breakthrough came with the help
of a contentious spot-kick.
Mandzukic and Griezmann demonstrated their
developing partnership for the next two goals to
put the result beyond doubt before half-time,
allowing Simeone to rotate his squad after the
break.
Almeria, meanwhile, saw their three- match
unbeaten run end, meaning results on Sunday
could drag them closer to the drop zone.
Simeone's side started the match with plenty
of purpose and intensity to their play and got
their reward in the 13th minute, albeit in
controversial circumstances.
Diego Godin was adjudged to have been fouled
in the penalty area while attempting to meet
Gabi's floated free-kick.
Mauro Dos Santos was identified as the chief
offender, although he and his team-mates, two
of whom also jumped with the Uruguayan, looked
bemused at the penalty award.
Mandzukic ignored all of the arguments to coolly
convert the spot-kick and give Atleti the lead.
Things got worse for the visitors in the 20th
minute, and this time there were few doubts
about the main culprit.
Fran Velez inexplicably played the ball to the
feet of Mandzukic 40 yards from goal and the
former Bayern Munich frontman was able to send
his strike partner Griezmann through to double
the lead with a composed finish.
The game was all-but over as a contest nine
minutes later when Griezmann and Mandzukic
combined once again to add a third goal.
The Frenchman managed to get the wrong side of
his defender inside the six-yard box to latch on
to Mandzukic's knockdown and fire past Julian
on the turn, as Almeria failed to deal with
another aerial ball.
Almeria did their best to respond in the opening
minutes of the second half and did increase
their tempo, but Atleti managed
to maintain their superiority.
With one eye clearly on their return to European
action, Simeone was able to withdraw Mandzukic
and Griezmann to standing ovations in the
second period, to be replaced by Fernando
Torres and Raul Garcia.
Garcia almost marked his return from suspension
with a goal, but he dragged his shot across goal
from six yards out, after a strong surge into the
box in the 77th minute.
That was as close as either side came to adding
a second-half goal, and the only blot on
otherwise fantastic evening for Atleti was
the late sending off for Siqueira.
The defender was shown a second yellow card for
deliberate handball on the half-way line, but it
mattered little to the overall context of the
match.
0 comments:
Post a Comment