Atletico Madrid secured a sixth successive victory as Alex Baena scored late to safe a 1-0 win at Espanyol, a end result which supplies Atleti a primary win in 4 away head-to-heads.
After claiming a hard-fought victory towards Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League in midweek, Atleti confirmed no indicators of tiring as they went straight onto the entrance foot right here in Barcelona.
Lee Kang-in blazed over from just some yards out after Jonathan David neatly laid the ball into his path, earlier than the Canadian himself latched onto Giuliano Simeone’s go into the hazard space and despatched a shot narrowly over the bar.
Espanyol quickly started to achieve a foothold as the contest settled, however they lacked a innovative in the last third.
It took till simply after the half-hour mark for the hosts to go near an opener with a well-worked nook which caught Atleti chilly in defence, however Bryan Zaragoza’s cross was headed inches vast by Roberto Fernandez.
David was then denied by Angel Fortuno, who did properly to palm the ball onto the proper submit, earlier than Leandro Cabrera ran onto a unfastened ball at the fringe of the field and crashed his strike off the crossbar to shut out the half.
Unhappy along with his aspect’s first-half efficiency, Simeone made a double change forward of the restart, with Ademola Lookman one among the gamers changed.
Both groups struggled and regarded torpid in the opening quarter-hour of the second half, with neither goalkeeper examined. Marcos Llorente did have Fortuno scrambling in the 62nd minute when he struck from distance, however with the goalkeeper crushed, he was solely denied by the crossbar.
Fortuno was once more examined with a shot from distance, this time from Julian Alvarez, whose highly effective strike from 25 yards out was tipped over the bar, whereas Morten Hjulmand headed into the aspect netting from the ensuing nook.
Atleti had been pushing for the breakthrough, and simply as it regarded like Espanyol had carried out sufficient to carry on and safe some extent, Los Colchoneros broke the impasse in the 89th minute.
Alvarez minimize inside from the left and picked out Baena exterior the field, and the Spaniard took a contact earlier than choosing his spot in the left nook.
That secured a victory which helps Atletico maintain tempo with leaders Barcelona, whereas Espanyol endure a 3rd defeat in 4 video games.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Cristian Romero (Atletico Madrid)
