April 18, (THEWILL) – Atletico Madrid improved their Champions League qualification ambitions with a thrilling 2-1 victory over Espanyol on Sunday, with Yannick Carrasco scoring twice, including a stoppage-time penalty.
Last weekend, Diego Simeone’s team lost 1-0 to Real Mallorca and were knocked out of the Champions League by Manchester City on Wednesday, before struggling once more at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Atletico had won seven of their previous nine home league games against Espanyol, but it was Vicente Moreno’s visitors who got off to a better start.
Just seven minutes in, Leandro Cabrera’s header from Darder’s corner required a great Jan Oblak save, while Joao Felix skied wide on the counter-attack. There was not much to highlight until the interval.
At half-time, Simeone replied by introducing Antoine Griezmann, Matheus Cunha, and Carrasco, and Atletico’s fortunes quickly turned.
Oblak made a quick save to deny Darder, and it was a crucial save a minute later when Cunha and Carrasco combined on a brilliant break.
Cunha dashed towards the Espanyol goal before laying an inch-perfect pass for Carrasco to cut in and slot a right-footed strike past Diego Lopez to put the game out of reach.
Oblak then saved a low De Tomas shot, but the Espanyol striker’s resulting free-kick wiggled under the Atletico goalkeeper after Kondogbia was awarded a second yellow for handling.
Carrasco won the match after De Tomas was deemed to have handled an Atleti corner, allowing the home forward to score from 12 yards into the bottom-left corner.
It is a win that brings Simeone’s team level on points with Sevilla and Barcelona, and three ahead of Real Betis in fifth place.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
