A brace from Argentine youngster Eduardo Salvio helped Atletico Madrid warm up for their Europa League semi-final trip to Liverpool with a 3-1 victory over Tenerife on Sunday.
With nothing left to play for in the league, Atletico coach Quique Sanchez Flores chose to rest players ahead of Thursday’s match at Anfield where the Spanish side will be defending a 1-0 lead.
It meant giving striker Salvio his first starting place since moving from Lanus in Argentina in January and he responded with his first goals for the club.
PHOTO: EPA
Tenerife hit back after the break with a Roman Martinez goal back. However, Sergio Aguero put the game beyond them with a goal after 77 minutes.
“It was a good performance and we created enough chances to win the game comfortably,” Sanchez Flores said.
Looking ahead to the Liverpool match, he added: “There are four days to go and we are going to keep quiet. It is not in our interests to give anything away. I hope we have a good game and it goes according to plan.”
A dramatic late penalty from Daniel Parejo gave Getafe a 4-3 victory over Sevilla to put them back in the hunt for a place in Europe.
The incentive was on Sevilla, who could have capitalized on Mallorca’s 1-1 draw against Malaga, to claim fourth place but instead it was Getafe who moved within two points of a Europa League place.
Getafe missed a hatful of chances in the first half and ended up going into the break behind to strikes from Luis Fabiano and Frederic Kanoute with Adrian Gonzalez scoring the single goal in reply.
Fabiano put Sevilla back ahead after Pedro Leon had leveled for Getafe but the game appeared to be heading for a draw with Manu Moral putting Getafe again on level terms.
However, Parejo won the game for Getafe from the spot after he himself had been upended.
“This was a good all-round display and maybe it looks better for the way that we came back. We are pleased and I am proud of my players as we never gave up. The result was completely justified but we had to wait until the 93rd minute in order to win,” said Jose Michel, the Getafe coach.
Striker Aritz Aduriz salvaged a point in injury time for Mallorca after they had expected so much more against struggling Malaga.
Despite dominating the match and having a host of chances to score including a penalty, it was Malaga’s Victor Obinna who broke the deadlock.
In the dying minutes Aduriz finally brought some reward for Mallorca.
Sixth-placed Villarreal came from behind to beat Racing Santander 2-1 to boost their hopes of qualifying for a place in the Europa League.
Sergio Canales put Racing ahead but Villarreal deservedly turned the game around with strikes from Diego Godin and Nilmar Honorato.
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