La Liga Report: Alexander Sorloth’s Double Secures Atletico Madrid’s 3-1 Victory Over Leganes
La Liga Match Report: Thanks to an incredible effort by Alexander Sorloth, Atletico Madrid overcame Leganes in their most recent La Liga match, winning 3-1.
In addition to improving Atletico’s position, this win closes the distance with league leaders Barcelona.
In Sunday’s La Liga match, Atletico Madrid overcame a late deficit to defeat Leganes 3-1 thanks to a double from Alexander Sorloth. Yvan Neyou gave the visitors the lead early on, but Sorloth tied the score with a brilliant finish, and Antoine Griezmann scored the second as Diego Simeone’s men battled against the underdogs from south of Madrid.
Late in stoppage time, Norwegian target man Sorloth completed a poacher’s finish to seal the win. With the win, Atletico moved up to third place and closed the distance on leaders Barcelona to four points before the Catalans’ Sunday home match against Sevilla.
“We made some progress in the second half, primarily in accelerating the game,” Simeone said to Movistar.
With just one win in their previous five games in all competitions, Atletico entered the contest. They were thrashed 4-0 at Benfica in the Champions League and drew 1-1 with rivals Real Madrid and Real Sociedad in addition to Rayo Vallecano.
After several Atletico fans threw objects at Real Madrid players during the September derby, the Spanish football federation closed the lower section of the south stand of the Metropolitano stadium, and no fans were present.
Neyou gave Leganes a well-earned lead in the first half by smashing a shot into the top corner that beat defenseless Jan Oblak. In the second half, Simeone made a number of adjustments, including substituting his son Giuliano Simeone for Rodrigo Riquelme.
The 21-year-old midfielder contributed to Atletico’s victory after the hosts tied the score in the 69th minute thanks to a deft flicked finish by Sorloth off of Axel Witsel’s cut-back.
Giuliano did a fantastic job of holding the ball in on the right flank, and Griezmann turned home his cross to the near post, sliding in front of goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic.
“In these weeks I’ve been working a lot in this position (on the right) and I’m really happy with my performance and assist for Griezmann,” Giuliano said to Movistar.
“But (the win was) about the attitude of the whole team in the second half, we knew we had to improve.”
After a VAR review revealed the former France international had slid, the referee reduced Griezmann’s high tackle on Neyou from a red card to a yellow.
Giuliano escaped a late penalty appeal from Leganes as he clashed with Munir El Haddadi in Atletico’s zone, challenging him.
With a close-range finish late in the game, Sorloth—his third league goal since signing from Villarreal this summer—confirmed the Rojiblancos’ victory.
Leganes was seated in 17th place. “We did good work and didn’t get the reward for it, so it hurts,” Neyou observed.
