Julian Alvarez on Thursday struck a 90th-minute winner for Atletico Madrid to snatch a 1-0 victory at RC Celta de Vigo in La Liga.
Even a single point would have flattered Diego Simeone’s side, but they took all three when the Argentina international, on as a substitute, finished Antoine Griezmann’s cross at the back post.
Celta had the better chances as Atletico, third, lacked spark ahead of the derby clash against Spanish champions Real Madrid tomorrow.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“We didn’t play well in attack in the first half,” Simeone told DAZN. “The subs gave us a bit more creativity to be able to win the game.”
Simeone started his son Giuliano for the first time after some substitute appearances and left star summer signing Alvarez on the bench.
Atletico failed to take a single shot in a low-quality first half, while Celta threatened seriously only just before the interval, when Jan Oblak saved brilliantly from Iago Aspas’ drive.
The Slovenian goalkeeper made another superb stop from Borja Iglesias’ close-range header after 57 minutes to keep Atletico level.
However, it was Atletico who claimed victory when former Manchester City striker Alvarez, on as a substitute, stayed sharp to prod home Griezmann’s deep cross.
“[Scoring] helps for confidence, and it’s always to help the team ... these are three important points,” Alvarez said. “We knew that it would be a difficult game, Celta have done very well at home. Bit by bit we improved in the game, and in the second half we made some chances.”
Earlier, Ayoze Perez netted twice to claim Villarreal a 2-1 win at RCD Espanyol, taking the Yellow Submarine fourth.
With six goals the Spain international trails only Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski by one strike.
The home fans were angry with referee Alejandro Quintero Gonzalez’s lenient officiating and one threw a plastic cup which struck the official as he walked off at the end.
Real Betis Balompie could only secure a 1-1 draw at bottom-of-the-table UD Las Palmas.
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
Shin Oebori coaches the Fukagawa Hawks youth baseball team in Tokyo, and he is very aware how Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani touches his players. “With Ohtani, the kids think everything is possible,” Oebori said, wrapping up practice yesterday on an all-dirt field set alongside a local Buddhist temple, below an elevated highway, and in the shadow of tall apartment blocks in central Tokyo. “Nothing is impossible with him. A dream is not a dream,” Oebori said, stepping out of the fenced practice field that keeps balls from landing on the temple grounds. None of the players hitting sponge-soft baseball has reached
CRICKET Azhar’s 59 leads Stallions Aashir Azhar’s blazing half-century guided the Taipei Stallions to victory over Taipei Super 11 in the Taiwan Premier League’s Group A at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei yesterday. The Stallions were 102-3 and into the 12th over of 20 when Azhar came to the crease. He hit seven sixes and two fours in the 25 deliveries he faced to push his side to 171-5. Gokul Kumar was the star with the ball for Super 11, taking 3-17. In the reply, Deepak Vishnu outscored Azhar with 77 from 50 balls, but nobody else got past 20 as
‘GLOBAL PRESSURE’: LA’s Dave Roberts said that it was difficult to appreciate the ‘pressure on a global scale’ his starter was under ‘pitching for his country’ The Los Angeles Dodgers shelled out US$1 billion for Japanese talent in the off-season and it is paying off in the MLB playoffs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Friday outdueled Yu Darvish in a historic post-season matchup of Japanese-born starters, while the Dodgers got home runs from Kike Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez to beat the San Diego Padres 2-0 and advance to the National League Championship Series. “It’s pretty sweet,” a smiling Freddie Freeman said. Yamamoto allowed two hits over five innings for the win, getting pulled after 63 pitches in a decisive Game 5 between heated NL West rivals who were meeting in a
RSS