Atletico Madrid 3 - 2 Valencia CF Match Thread

Well, for a game between the two best defensive sides in the league I don't think anyone expected there to be 5 goals. We have struggled to beat Atletico Madrid on many occasions over the past few years and this was just another one of those occasions.

Atletico scored first early in the first half with a cross from Juanfran on the right (our left) picking out Morata at the far post. Garay let his guard down and let Morata get to the ball for a poke past Neto.

Valencia would respond soon after with Soler picking out Santi Mina in the Atletico box. The latter would dribble past 2 Atletico defenders and pick out Gameiro at the opposite post who had no trouble beating Oblak from that range.

Atletico would regain the lead early in the second half with another cross. This time Griezmann would get to the ball ahead of Gaya and head the ball past Neto.

Atletico would get several other chances to get further ahead with a goal from Morata ruled offside correctly, as well as a header and a shot from Griezmann both of which skimmed past the post.

Valencia would get a gift in the form of a handball confirmed by VAR and Parejo would step up to take it and score.

Taking one point from the game would've been a good result especially at the Wanda Metropolitano, however, Correa would yet again hand us a defeat with a long range effort from the edge of the box. He was yet again given the time and space, and Neto remained frozen for the third time in the match.

We had some luck by getting a quite sloppier than usual Atletico side but unfortunately defensive errors would cost us the game this time. It was weird to see Guedes subbed off early despite being taken off early the game prior in preparation for this game. The replacement was Sobrino who had been injured up until this point. Other than his involvement in the counterattacking play right after he was subbed on, he didn't really make an impact. Of course, we can't expect that he would add anything so soon after a long injury and I don't see how he was an improvement over Guedes. Our bench was pretty weak today due to injuries with the only other viable substitution being Ferran Torres but Marcelino opted just for the one change.

Parejo had a great game but a lot of the other players were giving the ball away too easily and wasting possession. It would have been nice to have Rodrigo and Kondogbia in a game like this but it is what it is.

The good news is we got Sobrino back, our Europa League opponents are having a poor run of form, and Getafe play a tough game against Real Madrid next meaning the gap will probably be maintained barring an upset. However, Sevilla can now overtake both of us if they win.