An excellent Atleti pick up their third victory in Anoeta
Excellent match from Atletico Madrid who were superior to Real Sociedad . Villa scored his first league goal for the club and Koke doubled the lead, Xabi Prieto pulled one back and Courtois was the hero at the end with two great saves.
Real Sociedad 1-2 Atletico Madrid
Real Sociedad : Claudio Bravo; Cadamuro, Ansotegui (Ruben Pardo, 82’), Iñigo Martinez , De la Bella; Bergara ( Elustondo, 58') , Zurutuza, Carlos Vela, Xabi Prieto, Griezmann , and Seferovic (Barn, 67 ') .
Atletico Madrid: Courtois, Juanfran, Miranda, Godin, Filipe Luis, Koke, Mario Suarez, Gabi, Arda Turan (Cristian Rodriguez, 86'), Diego Costa (Adrian, 92') and Villa (Raul Garcia, 82').
Referee: Ayza Gámez ( Valencia Committee ) . Showed yellow card to Zurutuza ( 65 ' ) and Bravo ( 92' ) for the home side and Arda Turan (25') , Mario Suárez (54'), Gabi (72') and Filipe Luis (79') for the visitors.
GOALS:
0-1 . 27' Villa
0-2. 56' Koke
1-2. 68’ Xabi Prieto.
You could tell from the first minute that it was a game between two Champions League sides. Real Sociedad at home looked to take control of the game early on and not surprisingly, the team from San Sebastian knew how Atletico started four days ago against the champions in their stadium, so they started with a high intensity. The Basques came off of the back of qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League after winning both games against Olympique Lyon.
The truth is that the home side started the stronger of the two side. Griezmann hit the crossbar after just 3 minutes and not long after Carlos Vela sent his shot over the top. After that start Atletico Madrid got on top with Simeone's team looking solid and they took a firm grip on the game.
Mario Suarez and Gabi were on top of the Real midfielders Bergara and Zurutuza. Koke and Arda Turan along with Diego Costa and Villa were working ever so hard to not allow the home side time on the ball. Carlos Vela, Xabi Prieto and Griezmann were soon neutralised after their strong start.
The first chance for the visitors came when Diego Costa combined with Arda and Koke resulting in a shot that the keeper saved, then Villa picked up a bad pass from Iñigo Martínez to crash his shot off the right post. There was a third chance in the 22 minute with a pass from Arda found Villa but Bravo turned the effort away for a corner. Soon the goal came, Villa played a one two with Diego Costa before the Spanish international finished well to record his first goal in the league, second of the season after his strike against Barcelona in Super Cup. Atleti went in at the break leading by a goal to nil.
After the interval, Real Sociedad came out fresh and looking to get back in to the game but they failed to create any real chances and just 11 minutes in to the second half Atletico had doubled their lead. This time Diego Costa linked up well with Arda and Villa who pulled the ball back for Koke who finished well.
The home side pulled one back in the 68th minute when Xabi Prieto took advantage of a quickly taken free kick, breaking through the Atleti defence to fire a powerful shot past Courtois making it 2-1.
Sociedad had a few good chance to equalise but the Belgian goalkeeper was on top form pulling on two world class saves in the dying minutes to ensure that Atletico Madrid came home with the 3 points, making it 3 wins out of 3 and maximum points in the league.