MY ACCOUNT
Smart finishes from Yeremi Pino and Gerard Moreno gave Villarreal a 2-0 victory over Atletico Madrid at the Civitas Metropolitano.
The hosts sloppily gave the ball away at the back and Pino made them pay with his sublime 73rd-minute finish into the far bottom-left corner.
Diego Simeone’s side desperately tried to find an equaliser but could not do so and Moreno added a second deep into stoppage time, after Nahuel Molina was sent off.
Atletico were left disappointed not to follow up their opening victory at Getafe, while Villarreal’s 100 per cent start in LaLiga continues.
Alvaro Morata should have given Atletico the lead within the opening minute, but his volley was palmed away by Geronimo Rulli.
The visitors grew into the game and went close after 10 minutes, with Pino firing just over after good work by Etienne Capoue and Giovani Lo Celso.
Villarreal found the net 10 minutes before the break, but the ball was adjudged to have hit Moreno’s arm as he finished, after his initial effort came back off the crossbar.
Matheus Cunha had a great chance with 20 minutes left but could not convert when a teasing Angel Correa cross found him in the area.
Cunha was made to rue that miss moments later when a mix-up at the back let in Pino, who lashed in from a tricky angle to put the visitors ahead.
Rulli somehow kept the ball out of the Villarreal net when a Cunha header came off the crossbar and Carrasco nodded the rebound back at goal.
Atletico defender Molina received a straight red card for a petulant push on Alex Baene in added time, before Moreno added a second goal in the dying moments with a clever finish to secure all three points.
What does it mean? Atletico off the pace
The visitors keep up their 100 per cent start to the season as they move up to third in the LaLiga table after two games. Home defeat for Simeone’s men means they drop down to seventh, and this was a jolt of a performance and result for Simeone.
Ruthless Pino
Pino was alert to win his side the game when he latched onto a poor pass in the Atletico defence, before giving Jan Oblak no chance with his finish. He completed 19 of his 23 passes while he also won two fouls.
Wasteful Morata
Morata bagged a double in his team’s 3-0 win over Getafe on the opening day but could not follow that up with another goal here. He came off after 70 minutes, after failing to score with his four goal attempts. He only completed 42.9 per cent of his passes while winning 57.1 per cent of his duels.
What’s next?
Atletico are back in action when they travel to face Valencia on Monday, August 29. Villarreal will turn their attentions to the second leg of their Europa Conference League play-off, as they take a 4-2 aggregate lead out to Croatia to play Hadjuk Split on Thursday.
