Atletico Madrid vs Valencia: Diego Simeone’s side breeze past Valencia

• Atletico Madrid secured a 2-0 victory over Valencia on Sunday to move to third in La Liga
• Samuel Lino opened the scoring for the hosts in the first half before Memphis Depay sealed the win in the second period

Atletico Madrid secured a 2-0 victory over Valencia during the Atletico Madrid vs Valencia fixture played on Sunday. While it was Atletico’s tenth victory from eleven home matches this season, they denied Valencia a third consecutive La Liga win.

Samuel Lino opened the scoring for the hosts in the first half before Memphis Depay sealed the win in the second period to continue his fine form. The hosts would have won the match by a huge margin had it not been for goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili’s impressive performance at Valencia’s post. The 23-year-old made fine saves in the first half to deny Antoine Griezmann, Depay, Pablo Barrios, Reinildo Mandava and Nahuel Molina.

Atletico Madrid vs Valencia. Photo/ dynamo.kiev.ua.

In the second period, he denied Stefan Savic before Depay increased Atletico’s advantage. With the comfortable win, Atletico moved past FC Barcelona in the standings due to goal difference to occupy the third position. They have 44 points, ten behind second placed Real Madrid. On top of the table is Girona (55), who have been in red-hot form this season.

Speaking after the Atletico Madrid vs Valencia game, Samuel Lino said that they are aiming to continue their impressive performance game after game.

“It’s very important to have scored the goal that opened the game and started the victory. However, the most important thing was the victory. We are not thinking about the title, we keep it game by game. Doing our job.” Lino told DAZN, as per ESPN.

Atletico Madrid Vs Valencia

Valencia travelled to Estadio Civitas Metropolitano with the aim of winning a third consecutive La Liga match. However, they found a strong Atletico Madrid side who have also been in good form in the past few weeks.

The hosts dominated the game from the start and even came close to scoring inside 90 seconds, but Nahuel Molina’s effort was well saved by Giorgi Mamardashvili. Memphis Depay then set Griezmann on goal 15 minutes later but the Frenchman, who recently became Atletico’s all-time leading goalscorer, had his effort saved by Mamardashvili.

Griezmann tried to beat Valencia’s keeper at the near post a short while later but he was once again denied. The 23-year-old keeper showed his brilliance again to stop Pablo Barrios effort from going in. However, his first half display was finally halted by Samuel Lino who scored with a low shot to sent the home crowd into raptures.

Valencia’s attack became alive after the restart, forcing Jan Oblak, who had been a spectator for the better part of the first period, to show his prowess to deny Javi Guerra. Having noticed their 1-0 lead was no longer safe, Atletico began showing the attacking spirit they had in the first half.

Finally, they increased their lead through Depay, who had been at his best the whole game. The move started by Koke who drilled a pass to Molina and the Argentine made no mistake in finding Depay with his cross. The Dutchman nodded home from close range.

Atletico Madrid beat Valencia 2-0. Photo/ Footbalium.

Depay was almost finding the back of the net a few minutes later, but his stunning volley went slightly above hitting the roof of the net. As the game drew to an end, Atletico thought they had an opportunity to increase their advantage from the penalty spot but the match’s referee Ricardo de Burgos didn’t listen to the complaints about Molina being fouled in the box. There was a VAR check but the referee stood by his decision, proving he had made the right call earlier.

Nevertheless, Atletico won the game and successfully kept a clean sheet in their third game. Diego Simeone’s side face Rayo Vallecano in their next La Liga match on Wednesday. On the other hand, Valencia will be looking to return to winning ways when they host Almeria on Saturday.