The Uruguayan’s milestone goal in the second half was enough for Atletico to beat relegation-threatened Alaves in La Liga.
Luis Suarez made it to the headlines after reaching his 500th career goal in Atletico Madrid‘s win against relegation-threatened Alaves.
Los Rojiblancos were coming off a disappointing loss to Chelsea which thwarted their chances of heading into the last eight of the Champions League. Furthermore, the La Liga leaders had the task of putting pressure on rivals Real Madrid, who had reduced the points gap to three points after the win against Celta Vigo last night.
It was not the greatest of starts for Atletico in the first half and although they had control of the game, they failed to score in the first. The attacking duo of Luis Suarez and Angel Correa didn’t cause much trouble to Alaves’ defence as well.
However, the second half performance from the host was much promising and they finally got their break in the 54th minute with the help of Suarez. The Uruguayan netted a fine header after an inviting cross from right-back Kieran Trippier.
The visitors had a great chance to ruin the night for Atleti but Joselu had his penalty saved by Jan Oblak in the 86th minute.
Besides scoring his 19th goal in La Liga this season, Suarez also hit an incredible milestone with that strike – his 500th career goal.
Despite his stupendous form in La Liga this season, the 33-year-old came under fire after his barren run in the Champions League continued and he even failed to put an end to it during the game against Chelsea. However, tonight’s performance must have restored him with enough confidence to help Atletico in the title race.
Diego Simeone‘s men have now moved six points ahead of Los Blancos in the table and will face Sevilla after the international break.
Line-ups
| Atletico Madrid | Deportivo Alavés |
| Oblak | Fernando Pacheco |
| Savic | Navarro |
| Giménez | Laguardia |
| Hermoso | Lejeune |
| Koke | Duarte |
| Trippier | Battaglia |
| Llorente | Pellistri |
| Lemar | Pons |
| Carrasco | Peleteiro |
| Suarez | Méndez |
| Correa | Joselu |
| Substitutes | Substitutes |
| Grbic | Sivera, |
| Felipe, | Javi López, |
| Vrsaljko | Deyverson |
| Lodi | Rodríguez, |
| Kongogbia | Aguirregabiria, |
| Herrera | Burgui, |
| Torreira | Cordoba, |
| Saul | Mahmoud, |
| Vitolo | Rioja, |
| Dembélé | Sainz, |
| Manager | Manager |
| Diego Simeone | Abelardo Fernández |
