Atletico Madrid narrowly survived a first-half scare against Espanyol in their fourth La Liga match by scoring two late goals to win the game by 1-2. La Liga champions were trailing in the majority of the match. Diego Simeone’s side came alive in the last ten minutes to rescue three pivotal points from the cusp of defeat.
Relentless Carrasco and Lemar scored in closing moments.
For the second successive time, Los Rojiblancos had to rely on a last-minute drama to salvage something from the match. Having taken the lead through Raul de Tomas’ glancing header in the 40th minute, Espanyol seemed to be cruising towards an unlikely victory against the reigning La Liga champions.
However, the duo of Yannick Carrasco and Thomas Lemar had something else on their minds. The Belgian maestro produced a moment of magic in the dying embers of the game, gliding past defenders to pull his side level in the 79th-minute. With the home team on their backfoot now, Atletico surged ahead with full force.
Two games in a row, Atletico Madrid have managed to scramble the required result in injury time. Though, 10 minutes of added time today provided enough room to the defending champions.
Having had a goal disallowed earlier in the game due to a correct offside call, Lemar connected with Carrasco to score a 99th-minute winner. The Frenchman’s brilliant run towards the end sealed the deal for Diego Simeone’s side, who now sit in second place.
Diego Simeone changed the course of the game midway
With 0-1 down in the middle of the match, Diego Simeone made three changes after the break. He made the remaining two substitutions midway to the second half.
His changes surely made an impact for Atletico. These were bold moves as the early changes sometimes can result in undesired consequences. He was brave enough today and didn’t hesitate to take action at half-time.
The bench La Liga champions never had depth like this. It could be Simeone’s problem to put the best eleven on the field as
Antoine Griemann’s second Atletico debut
After two seasons with Barcelona, Antoine Griezmann made his second debut with Atletico Madrid. He started for Atletico but was substituted by Joao Felix at the 58th minute.
With 10 points in four games, high-flying Atletico Madrid will face Athletic Bilbao in their next league match, after an upcoming Champions League home match with Porto.
