Atlético de Madrid won this Saturday by a large 0-5 in their visit to Real Valladolid with goals from Clément Lenglet, Julián Álvarez, Rodrigo de Paul, Antoine Griezmann and Alexander Sorloth that have brought the colchoneros closer to the leadership, thanks to the amazing previous defeat (1-2) of FC Barcelona at the hands of UD Las Palmas.
At the José Zorrilla Stadium, the locals’ resistance barely lasted 10 minutes. When falling to the ground to block an advance by Marcos Llorente on the far right, Selim Amallah noticed muscle discomfort and had to be replaced by Stanko Juric. While the local defensive line was reconnecting, ‘Spider’ Álvarez already wanted to score in the 21st minute.
The Argentine striker’s high left foot shot from the edge of the area was well repelled by the Blanquivioleta goalkeeper, but it served as a prelude to Lenglet’s 0-1 scoreline five minutes later. After a corner, Álvarez himself received the ball in the right corner of the area and passed for the finish in the run of Llorente, who crossed quickly to the far post.
That assist, with tension, was hammered home by Lenglet inside the small area, with almost no opposition from the center backs. At half an hour Altético almost scored 0-2, with a shot from Giuliano Simeone also placed in the middle of the defense while De Paul centered; but ‘Cholito’ was offside by a few centimeters and his goal was disallowed.
However, Giuliano’s insistence created the valid 0-2 (35′) when Javi Sánchez left with skill on the right side; The son of coach Diego Pablo Simeone stepped into the Valladolid area and passed towards Griezmann, whose low right shot was cleared by goalkeeper Karl Hein, but Julián Álvarez was attentive to score the rebound.
Without delay, the red and white team made it 0-3 thanks to a great play by Javi Galán on the left wing; the side made two ‘walls’, first with Conor Gallagher and another immediate one with the ‘Spider’, to reach the local area and cross at grass level until past the penalty spot, where De Paul scored with a low shot.
In stoppage time of the first half, and after a corner, the player himself De Paul assisted Josema Giménez to head in 0-4 at the bottom of the Valladolid net. However, a very narrow offside by Griezmann at the origin of everything caused the referee to also annul the success of Atlético’s Uruguayan defender.
The shouts from the stands against the club’s board and against its coach, the also Uruguayan Paulo Pezzolano, They disappeared momentarily thanks to the rest. But Valladolid’s bad face continued at the beginning of the second half, when Griezmann produced a work of art that meant the score was 0-4 after combining with a hyperactive Julián Álvarez.
The ‘Little Prince’ generated a ‘wall’ with the ‘Spider’ and he received the ball with his back to the bottom in the heart of the area; He controlled it with his left foot, turning and quickly chipped that ball before Hein came out, scoring the fourth Colchonero goal in slow motion and causing a large part of the stadium to applaud the French forward of the rival team.
The changes by both coaches and Atleti’s large advantage slowed the pace of the game. In the 60th minute, and again with a header from a corner kick, the red-and-white’s fifth goal prowled. In front, the Pucelano team had its best opportunity to score with a left footed shot by Iván Sánchez who crashed into the crossbar when the 72nd minute was running.
The chants of “Ronaldo, go now!” grew at the end with the score 0-5, which ended in added time. Llorente mounted the counterattack past Gallagher, who filtered a long pass for Ángel Correa’s sprint on the right side; As soon as he reached the opposite area, Atleti’s number 10 crossed to the opposite post and Sorloth suddenly scored the goal.
This comfortable victory placed ‘Cholo’ Simeone’s pupils with 32 points, provisionally second and waiting for Real Madrid (3rd, 30 pts.) to play two games that they have pending. Barça remains on top of both Madrid clubs, with 34 points; at the antipodes of the table, Valladolid is still bottom with nine points.
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