Atlético de Madrid stay hot and get a deserved win over Deportivo (0-1)

 Atlético de Madrid earned an important victory against Deportivo (0-1) which allows them to stay in the fight for European competitions next season. The ‘rojiblanco’ side suffered due to the tight scoreline, but were better than their adversary. Sergio Agüero scored again at the Riazor for the fourth straight season and continued his hot form, as he scored his ninth goal in the last seven games. Additoinally, Luis Perea broke Griffa’s record for most matches played in an Atlético jersey by a foreign player with 204.   There were more than just three points at stake going into the match. The Galicians were hungry in their quest to stay in the First Division and reach the sought-after number of 41 points, while Atlético wanted a win that would permit them to close in on European spots.   Atlético de Madrid had a new challenge in front of them: to beat Deportivo at their stadium and remain in the battle for Europe. Reyes and Tiago, after sitting out their suspension, and Godín, after his injury, returned to the starting line-up.   The match began even, with two teams very stuck in. The visitors had learned their lesson and didn’t want to make the same mistakes from previous games in which some poor starts kept them from winning the contests. However, Deportivo took the reins of the match early on as the need to earn points after victories from Real Zaragoza over Real Madrid and Real Sociedad over Barcelona put the pressure on them. They therefore pressured up high and tried to attack De Gea’s goal from the opening whistle.   But the best chance for the ‘rojiblancos’ came in the 14th minute. Reyes scored a goal for the visitors, but it was called back for offside. Nerves took over Lotina’s squad, but as the minutes passed they took control of play and were close to scoring the first goal of the game. In the 20th minute Guardado, from outside the area, forced De Gea to tip over for a corner kick. Kun responded quickly and ripped a shot off the crossbar from outside the area.   Atletico had woken up in attack, were solid in defense and forceful in the midfield. The only thing lacking was definition in the finishing. Although Deportivo tried, they were unable to bring much danger to Atleti’s goal. The clash was drawing close to halftime and the ‘rojiblancos’ attacked through Tiago, Ujfalusi and Reyes. The superiority of Quique’s lads was clear and they only needed the sought-after goal that didn’t come in the opening 45 minutes.   After the re-start, things started with Atleti throwing themselves forward towards Aranzubia’s goal. They didn’t want to let more minutes pass and wanted to score a goal in the first minutes of the half and almost did so through Aguero in minute 56, but the Deportivo goalkeeper wrapped up his shot. A few minutes later, Lopo found himself with no other option except to bring down Aguero on the counter attack. The defender was shown his second yellow card, and with it, his second yellow and marching papers. Things suddenly looked bright for Qiuque’s team, but they were missing the punctuation mark in the form of a goal.   The right flank, with Ujfalusi and Reyes, was a dagger for the ‘rojiblancos’. The superiority of the visiting play in that part of the pitch was clear, but they were unable to connect with Aguero and Diego Costa. Quique decided to add depth to his side’s play and sent on Forlan and then Juanfran. The move was to clearly go for the victory.    In minute 77, Ujfalusi almost gave his team the lead, but Aranzubia made a diving a save wide for a corner. It was a prelude for what was about to come. Two minutes later a nice play involving the entire attack led to Kun extending his excellent form with his ninth goal in seven games. This was the fourth year in a row that Kun has scored at the Riazor. A nice one-two between Juanfran and Forlan led to the winger finding the Argentine at the penalty spot to first-time past Aranzubia.   From that moment on, they had to endure Depor’s desperate attempts to equalize. The reality is that Atletico had the match under control, but everyone knows that in the world of football any random play can lead to a goal, but fortunately this didn’t come and the ‘rojiblancos’ took home the three points back to Madrid.   DEPORTIVO, 0;  ATLÉTICO DE MADRID, 1 (Kun Agüero)   Deportivo: Aranzubia; Laure, Lopo, Colotto, Morel (Seoan3, 31’); Aythami, Juan Rodríguez, Domínguez, Valerón, Guardado (Zé Castro, 75’); Xisco (Riki, 69’).   Atlético de Madrid: De Gea; Ujfalusi, Perea, Godín, Filipe Luis; Tiago, Mario Suárez, Elías (Juanfran, 67’), Reyes (Raúl García, 85’); Kun  and Diego Costa (Forlán, 66’).   Referee: Fernández Borbarlán (Comité Castellano-Leonés). Mostró tarjeta amarilla en el Deportivo a Zé Castro (92’). En dos ocasiones a Lopo (38’ y 58’); por el Atlético fueron amonestados Godín (54’), Reyes (70’) ,Ujfalusi (77’) y Forlán (93’).   Incidents: Matchday 34 of La Liga. Estadio de Riazor. Near sell-out.    GOALS: 0-1  (79’). Juanfran plays a wall pass with Forlan and passes to Kun, who slots home.