Madrid: Espanyol upset an out-of-sorts Atletico Madrid 2-0 in the 36th round of La Liga on Sunday, just days after the capital football club booked a place in the Europa League final.
The Catalan club halted Atletico’s undefeated run at Wanda Metropolitano stadium at 13 games, in a match that saw right-back Filipe Luis returning to the Rojiblancos’ starting line-up after recovering from a leg fracture, reports Efe.
It took Atletico 22 minutes to threaten Espanyol’s goal for the first time on a counter-attack, but Vitolo’s finish was imprecise.
Moments later, forward Vitolo was replaced, upon his request, and coach Diego Simeone gave reserve team winger Arona Sane the chance to make his La Liga debut.
Espanyol’s Gerard Moreno made a great effort, dribbling past two of Atletico’s players before hitting the woodwork, the best play of the first half.
Although Atletico have yet to secure second place in the La Liga table, they seemed to be distracted by their Europa League final scheduled for May 16 in Lyon.
Coach Simeone changed their usual 4-4-2 formation to count on three central defenders, and made five changes to the starting line-up compared to their previous game against Arsenal in the second leg of the Europa League.
The changes included the suspended Diego Costa, as well as Gabi Fernandez, Diego Godin, Saul A’iguez and Antoine Griezmann.
Atletico felt Griezmann’s abence, not only because of his 20 goals scored in 22 matches, but because they lacked that extra push he gives the front line – by the 53rd minute they had managed to create just two chances.
Espanyol were lent a hand in the 54th minute with an own goal from Atletico’s Stefan Savic, turning a harmless shot from Oscar Melendo into the back of Jan Oblak’s net.
Oblak managed to block Leo Baptistao’s close-range shot as well as Moreno’s attempt, who collected the deflected ball.
However, Baptistao would find the back of the net in his next effort on a shot from outside the area in the 77th minute.(IANS)
