Atletico Madrid Cruise to 3-0 Victory Over Las Palmas, Close the Gap on Barca
Atletico cruised to a 3-0 victory over Las Palmas with goals from Antoine Griezmann, Fernando Torres and Thomas Partey. Las Palmas gave a good account of themselves but in the end Atletico's quality shone through to give them a comfortable victory.
After suffering a 3-1 defeat to Sevilla in the Copa del Rey in the week, Atletico were looking to get back to winning ways in the league, and avoid falling further behind leaders Barcelona. Las Palmas on the other hand went into the game on the back of a surprising victory over Valencia and will have been looking to replicate that to aid them in their relegation fight.
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The home side were hampered with injuries in the run up to the game with Diego Costa missing out along with full-backs Filipe Luis and Sime Vrsaljko. Las Palmas had no new injury concerns and named a full strength side.
Las Palmas did a good job of slowing the game down in the first half, and were unlucky not to take an early lead when winger Hernan Toledo put a great ball into the box, only for a last ditch challenge from Angel Correa to prevent the underdogs taking the lead.
The moment of the first half was a moment of brilliance from Antoine Griezmann. The French forward improvised from a Juanfran cross and so nearly gave Atletico the lead, only to see his Zola-esque backheel cannon against the woodwork.
Las Palmas did not look like a side five points from safety in the first 45, and worked hard to go into the halftime break level.
However, after the break Atletico's quality began to shine through as they controlled the game and created a host of chances. The deadlock was broken in the 61st minute. Juanfran won the ball back in his own half before releasing Griezmann with a great pass, who ran in behind the Las Palmas defence and provided a deft chipped finish over the keeper to put Atletico into the lead.
Atletico then began to pile on the pressure and their lead was doubled in the 73rd minute when Las Palmas gave the ball away cheaply in their own half. Griezmann then released Fernando Torres who beat his man and provided an emphatic finish to score his second La Liga goal of the season.
A third was added to kill off any chance of a late Las Palmas fightback in the 88th minute. Yannick Carrasco squared to Thomas Partey after being sent through, and the substitute provided the finishing touch to secure the victory for Madrid.
Las Palmas will be hoping to bounce back from this defeat when they face Malaga in a relegation six-pointer next weekend, with Atletico facing a tough test at home to Valencia.
