Spanish La Liga
Full Time: Atletico Madrid 3-0 Almeria
Date: 21 February 2015
Venue: Etih Estadio Vicente Calderón ad Stadium
A brace from Antoine Griezmann helped Atletico Madrid to a 3-0 win over Almeria in a Spanish La Liga match at the Estadio Vicente Calderón on Saturday evening.
The win, Atletico’s 17th of the season, sees them firmly placed in third place on the table with 53 points, three behind second placed Barcelona who lost 1-0 to Malaga earlier in the day.
The loss for Almeria sees them hovering just above the relegation zone in 16th place on 23 points.
It was a blistering start to the game by Atletico who won a penalty-kick in the 13th minute after Diego Godin was fouled inside the box by Tomer Hemed.
Mario Mandzukic stepped up for the home side and made no mistake from the spot, 1-0.
Five minutes later Griezmann doubled Atletico’s lead when he broke through the Almeria defence and coolly finished when one-on-one with the keeper, 2-0.
On the half hour mark, Griezmann made it 3-0 when he turned home a right-wing cross with a clinical strike, 3-0.
Atletico dominated the rest of the half, but failed to add to the scorleine before the break.
The second half continued in the same manner and saw Saul come close to scoring for Atletico five after the restart when his 20-yard volley flashed just past the post.
Almeria tried to mount a comeback and came close to pulling a goal back on the hour mark when Corona let fly with a powerful shot from the edge of the box, but his effort skimmed the wrong side of the post.
Atletico took control of the game after that and slowed the game down a bit as they held on for a comfortable win.
The night, however, ended on a bit of sour note as Atletico saw Guilherme Siqueira sent for an early shower in the 91st minute after receiving his second yellow card of the game.
In the earlier La Liga match, goals from Andre Gomes and Pablo Piatti handed Valencia a 2-1 win over Cordoba at the Estadio Nuevo Arcángel.
The win sees Valencia in fourth place on the log with 50 points while Cordoba remain rooted to the bottom of the table with 18 points, one adrift of 18th placed Levante.
