João Félix and Morata sentences Elche
A good game from our team, who sentenced Elche in the second half, thanks to goals from João Félix and Morata. End of 2022 with a win at the Cívitas Metropolitano.
Atlético came out eager to offer a win to the fans who had gathered at the Cívitas Metropolitano. The first chance came a quarter of an hour later when João Félix's shot was saved by the visiting goalkeeper.
In the 20th minute a beautiful move started by Barrios, with first touches from João Félix, Griezmann and Morata with a pass to the French international who was unable to finish inside the box because the defender anticipated. The best chance came in the 37th minute, with a move initiated by Barrios, with a pass to João Félix, who cut back a defender and shot from the halfway line, but the ball went just wide of the left-hand post of the Elche goal.
In the last minute of the first half there was a controversial move. Gonzalo Verdú brought down Morata on the edge of the area when he was on his own against Edgar Badía and, after a VAR warning, Cuadra Fernández went to the monitor and, after seeing the play, sent off the defender and pointed to a free kick that João Félix took and crashed into the wall. It was 0-0 at the half-time whistle.
The second half got off to a lively start. Barrios played João Félix through on goal, he back-heeled the ball to Griezmann but the Frenchman's shot went over the crossbar. Elche had been reduced to 10 men in the last play of the first half but Hermoso was shown two yellow cards in three minutes and the game was evenly matched numerically because the dominance, the game and the chances were in Red & White. The goal came in the 56th minute. Kondogbia started an elaborate play with a pass to João Félix, who passed to Morata who opened up for Llorente, who crossed for Griezmann, who cleared off a defender, the Frenchman picked up the ball and put it on João Félix's head to open the scoring.
The team continued to persist and João Félix forced Edgar Badía to deflect a low shot behind for a corner in the 62nd minute. But the work paid off in the 74th minute, when Morata received a deep pass from Griezmann, sat Bigas inside the box and his shot, after touching Mascarell, made it 2-0. A result that would be definitive to close LaLiga at home in 2022 as it had started, with a 2-0 win over Rayo Vallecano on January 2. Now it's time to think about the Copa del Rey match on Wednesday 4 in Oviedo before hosting FC Barcelona at the Cívitas Metropolitano on Sunday 8.
