Statement of Authority
A great victory for Atletico Madrid in a difficult away ground where no one had previously won by three goals.
R.VALLADOLID 0 - ATLETICO DE MADRID 3
Real Valladolid: Dani Hernández; Rukavina, Rueda, Peña, Balenziaga; Alvaro Rubio, Luis Sastre (Baraja, 76’); Larsson, Oscar, Omar (Bueno, 71’); & Javi Guerra (Manucho, 55’).
Atlético de Madrid: Courtois; Juanfran, Miranda, Godín, Filipe Luis; Koke (Mario Suárez, 89’), Tiago, Gabi, Arda Turan (Cristian Rodríguez, 75’); Diego Costa (Raúl García, 83’) & Falcao.
Goals:
0-1. 11’. Falcao.
0-2. 53’. Diego Costa
0-3. 90’. Cristian Rodríguez
Atletico broke a streak of eight games without a win away from home. It was an excellent performance beating an opponent who were resolute despite conceding two goals at the start of each half but was powerless against the good play and determination of the rojiblancos . Falcao opened the scoring, before Diego Costa got the second and Cristian Rodriguez added the third.
The rojiblancos started the game well, dominating possession and it wasn’t long before Falcao fired the first warning shot. With seven minutes on the clock he shot from the edge of the area but Dani Hernandez saved well. Only four minutes later, a free-kick was awarded on the edge of the area for a foul on Gabi. When everyone expected a direct shot, Gabi lifted the ball over the wall and Godin rose to head towards the goal, keeper Dani Hernandez got down well well to save with one hand but it fell in to the path of Falcao who turned it home from a couple of yards out to make it 0-1.
The early lead put Atletico Madrid in to a strong position and Simeone's team we superior in the first half. So much so that the only time Valladolid got close to Courtois’ goal was a corner that was cleared by Tiago. The Belgian goal keeper didn’t have to intervene on this occasion.
Conversely, his opposite number Dani Hernandez was a busy man. First, with a shot from Diego Costa in the 20th minute, then again from the Brazilian in 39th but the Valladolid stopper did well to keep the scoring down with Atletico going in at the break with the goal lead.
After half time the game followed the same pattern, the Rojiblancos dominated possession as they looked to kill the game. And it took only 7 minutes to find the second goal. Good work on the edge of the area saw Adra the ball in to Koke who nodded the ball in to the path of Diego Costa who finished well to make it 2-0.
From that moment, Atletico Madrid continued to boss the game. A faultless defensive performance kept Valladolid at bay and as Djukic made the chances searching for a way back in to the game saw Manucho, Bueno and Baraja introduced but they couldn’t find a way through. Simeone made a few changes, resting Koke, Turan & Costa taking in to consideration the busy schedule ahead for Atletico.
In the final minutes of the match there was time for a third goal, substitute Cristian Rodriguez was ready to pounce on a defensive mistake to finish with class making it 3-0 and a deserved victory on their travels. The focus will quickly change to the Europa League match coming up on Thursday night ad this result will be a real morale booster ahead of the trip to Russia.
