MADRID: Alvaro Morata and Jao Felix struck in Atletico Madrid’s dominant 2-0 victory over Elche in their side’s first LaLiga fixture after the World Cup.
With a dominant victory in their first match on return, Atletico moved up to the third spot behind leader Barcelona and second-placed Real Madrid.
The home side started the match with an aggressive approach as it looked to push the ball up the pitch quickly and into wide areas.
Despite pushing the rock-bottom Elche desperately in the first half, Diego Simeone’s side remained unable to fire the opener.
Elche endured a major setback on the stroke of half-time when Gonzalo Verdu received a red card for pulling Morata down just outside the box.
Madrid’s domination in terms of men, however, did not last for long as in the 50th minute Mario Hermoso was given a second yellow card in the space of two minutes.
Simeone’s side, however, did not bother being a man down as just six minutes later they had their breakthrough when Antoine Griezmann intelligently clipped it back across the goal for Felix to head home.
Morata then made it 2-0 for Atletico in the 74th minute as his effort took a fortunate deflection and looped up and into the back of the net.
Following the victory, the Madrid-based side moved just eight points behind the leader Barcelona.
Meanwhile, in another LaLiga fixture, Samuel Saiz’s 75th-minute penalty propelled Girona to hang on for a 2-2 draw against Rayo Vallecano, while Real Betis and Athletic Club’s match ended in a goalless draw.
The action-filled matches of LaLiga 2022-23 are being telecasted live on Pakistan’s first HD Sports channel – A Sports and are simultaneously streamed on the digital platform of ARY Digital Network – ARY ZAP in crystal clear HD quality.
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