Atletico Madrid on Saturday produced one of their best performances of the season to defeat Real Valladolid 3-0, with Memphis Depay making his debut.
Real Sociedad, third, continued their fine form with a 2-0 win at Rayo Vallecano, while struggling Sevilla snatched a 1-0 win over Cadiz with a late Ivan Rakitic penalty.
Atletico’s new Dutch forward Depay, signed from Barcelona on Friday, came off the bench in the second half, but by then Antoine Griezmann’s virtuoso display had the hosts in full control at the Metropolitano.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The French forward produced a sublime assist for Alvaro Morata to open the scoring and then struck the second himself.
Mario Hermoso netted the third from the rebound after his header from Griezmann’s free-kick was parried back into his path.
Those three goals in an 11-minute spell in the first half wrapped up the points for fourth-placed Atletico.
Diego Simeone’s team have endured a tough season both in the league and also in Europe, where they were eliminated, but earned a second win in seven league games to get heading back in the right direction.
On Thursday they face rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals, important both as a derby, but also their last realistic chance of silverware this season.
“I’m very happy, very pleased with the team’s performance,” Griezmann told DAZN. “We have been doing well since the World Cup, playing with intensity, hard work, having chances up front, but we lacked a goal. That was largely my fault, because I was having chances, but couldn’t get it in. This goal will help me a lot mentally to get scoring again.”
Invigorated by the Copa del Rey draw and Depay’s arrival, Atletico started brilliantly.
Griezmann’s stunning back-flick played in Morata, who cut inside and drilled home at the near post.
Five minutes later, Griezmann doubled Atletico’s lead, blasting home Nahuel Molina’s cross.
Hermoso’s third sealed the win and Atletico spurned further chances to increase their winning margin.
The victory brings Atletico within 10 points of leaders Barcelona, albeit having played two extra games.
The Catalans were to host Getafe yesterday, while second-placed Real Madrid were to travel to face Athletic Bilbao.
Real Sociedad earlier on Saturday beat Rayo Vallecano to pull level on 38 points with Real Madrid.
The visitors opened the scoring at Vallecas after 15 minutes when veteran playmaker David Silva set up Norwegian striker Alexander Sorloth, who prodded home.
The striker now has five goals in his past five league games for the club.
Ander Barrenetxea doubled the Basque side’s lead in the 36th minute, flying in to convert a flicked-on corner.
It was the 21-year-old forward’s first start since a hamstring injury in January last year.
“This won’t lead us to make the mistake of loosening up, there’s a long way to go, we’re not even at the halfway point yet,” Real Sociedad coach Imanol Alguacil said. “For now it’s true that we’ve had a great start, but we have to keep that going, otherwise it’s not worth anything.”
Sevilla climbed out of the relegation zone with a tight win over 19th-placed Cadiz at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan.
Their coach Jorge Sampaoli was sent off for dissent in the second half with the game goalless.
Sevilla had chances, but could not convert them, until Rakitic slotted home from the penalty spot with two minutes to go.
Cadiz defender Ivan Alejo conceded the spot-kick and was sent off when he handled a cross falling into the path of Lucas Ocampos, who returned from a loan at Ajax last week.
Thousands of Sevilla fans protested outside the stadium against the running of the club before the match, although moving a point clear of the relegation zone would brighten the mood a little.
Earlier, RCD Espanyol earned a 1-0 win over Real Betis Balompie thanks to Martin Braithwaite’s strike.
Former NBA sensation Jeremy Lin, who recently announced he is joining the Kaohsiung Steelers in the P.League+, is to arrive in the country next week, the Taiwanese American wrote on Instagram yesterday. “I want to be very honest in telling everyone my plans because I don’t want any miscommunication. As of what I know, I will be flying to Taiwan next week, but I don’t know which day as I will need some time to meet my teammates, fit into the [team’s] system, and get prepared physically,” Lin said. Lin said he has not played an official basketball game for about two
Ticket sales for Kaohsiung Steelers home games surged after last month’s announcement that former NBA sensation Jeremy Lin would join the struggling P.League+ team. The Steelers, currently in last place in the six-team league with a 2-14 record, have three home games this month, hosting the Formosa Taishin Dreamers, the New Taipei Kings and the Dreamers again at Kaohsiung Fengshan Arena on Monday, Saturday next week and Feb. 12 respectively. Tickets to the latter two games went on sale at noon on Monday and as of 2:15pm, the courtside seats for the contest on Saturday next week, priced at NT$3,500 each, and
Former NBA star Jeremy Lin (林書豪) is to arrive in Taiwan on Saturday, he said yesterday, adding that he hopes he could play his first game with the Kaohsiung Steelers on Feb. 12. Lin made the comments in a social media post, in which he also apologized to his fans in Taiwan, saying he would not be able to sign any autographs at the airport due to COVID-19 restrictions. He is expected to practice social distancing from Saturday through Saturday next week, during which he would not be able to go to a basketball arena, he said. That would also prevent him from
Australian Open director Craig Tiley yesterday advised Novak Djokovic’s family to be “really careful” of people using the tournament’s global exposure as a platform for “disruptive” purposes. It follows a video posted on a pro-Russian YouTube account showing Djokovic’s father, Srdjan Djokovic, posing in Melbourne Park with a fan holding a Russian flag that featured the face of Vladimir Putin. It sparked a backlash from Ukraine and led to calls for Srdjan Djokovic to be banned from the tournament. He skipped his son’s semi-final victory on Friday, and it remains to be seen if he will be at today’s final. Tiley told the