Atlético Madrid made it 10 LaLiga games without a loss, after a easy 3-0 win against Sevilla at the Estadio Riyadh Air Metropolitano.
The first part of the opening half was pretty tepid, with not much quality showing from either team in the final third. This lead to no shots on target for the first 25 minutes. The game finally kicked into life just before the half-hour mark, when Alexander Sørloth suddenly found some space and fired a shot on target for the hosts from inside the penalty area, but his effort was expertly palmed away by Los Nervionenses goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos. With momentum growing behind them, Atlético should of taken the lead in the 37th minute, when Nicolás González’s hooked close-range volley smacked off the post after a beautiful tee-up from Sørloth. Another golden opportunity was squandered right before HT by González, when Vlachodimos made a vital stop to deny the Argentinian international when he was clean through on goal, so the score remained goalless at the interval.
The start of the second half was a sleepy occasion, but the crowd volume turned up to 11 when the referee retrospectively awarded the hosts a penalty after VAR intervened. A clear foul by Tanguy Nianzou around the hour mark was initially missed by the officials. Julián Alvarez stepped up to take the spot-kick and confidently slotted the ball into the bottom left corner, giving Atlético the lead in the 64th minute.
The Rojiblancos sealed all three points after 77 minutes, after some excellent work from Giuliano Simeone on the right flank lead to a calmly placed pass across the face of goal that was met by substitute Thiago Almada, and he tucked the ball home without a problem to double Atléti’s lead. Diego Simeone’s team really should have added a third to rub salt into Sevilla’s wounds in the closing stages, but Antoine Griezmann somehow missed the target altogether with all the time in the world to beat the goalkeeper. The French international would soon make amends though in the 90th minute, as he added the icing on the cake after beating Vlachodimos with a shot from just inside the box, which capped off a brilliant afternoon.
Following their victory, Diego Simeone’s side remain in fourth position in LaLiga and still haven’t lost a league match at home so far this season. A third LaLiga defeat in a row for Sevilla sees Los Nervionenses remaining in 11th place.
