Atletico Madrid, the not-so-quintessential Madrid club, has been doing wonders under coach Diego Simione this season. They have been at the top of the league almost since its inception and have adhered to it till. However, recently, the team had a breakdown in form. It, in turn, made the Madristas (the fans of Ream Madrid) hopeful about Atletico losing against Sevilla. However, Simione’s did crush their dreams with a 2-0 win against the club from Seville.
The goals were scored in each of the halves by Angel Correa, the winger from Argentina, and Saul Niguez, the proficient box-to-box midfielder. Due to this emphatic win, the Madrid club has triggered a four-point lead over their city rivals. Moreover, now, they are also seven points away from Barcelona, who are currently sitting in the third position. However, unlike what most of the sports enthusiasts thought, the match was not really in the control of Atletico at all.
Like the other matches, Sevilla was quite aggressive at the front and dominated Atletico in possession. They were closing down Diego Simione’s men quite efficiently and winning the ball in the midfield as well. Suso and Ocampos were, especially, much more active for the visitors down the wings. Nonetheless, although being so dominant throughout the match, Sevilla failed to score a goal. They had mustered only two shots on goal and, Atletico Madrid simply capitalized on that.
The opener of the game was scored by Angel Correa (in the 17th minute), who was in an excellent place when Kieran Trippier played the ball in. The spin on the ball was quite impeccable and truly deserved the best result. However, after that, En-Nesyri did get a chance to find an equalizer but failed to do so. The second half of the game, too, started on the same note of Sevilla trying to attack through the wings.
Nevertheless, Simione’s 3-5-2 formation seemed much more organized and repelled everything that came at it. Saul Niguez, the second goal scorer, came in the field at the second half and brought in some much-required energy on Atletico’s midfield. His master-class arrived at the 76th minute of the game when he found Llorente’s right at the tip of his toe. The bottom-corner finish was sublime and helped Atletico to cruise through the match.
The loss against Atletico, indeed, sums up the story of Sevilla this season. The team has been quite decent in terms of both passing and playing attacking football. But, their finishing has not been good enough at all. After the loss against the Madrid team, Sevilla now sits in 6th position, having mustered only 30 points until now. Nonetheless, they are only two points off of the top-four place. So, it is not really the end of the world for them.
The win against Sevilla marked the fifth back-to-back league win for Atletico Madrid this season. They will get the chance of increasing their lead later on this week against Eibar, while Barcelona and Real Madrid will continue their journey in the Spanish Super Cup and Copa Del Rey.