“La Liga”: Atletico Madrid regains form with a hard-fought win

Atletico Madrid bounced back with a difficult 3-1 victory over Leganés on Sunday in the tenth round of La Liga, thanks to a brace from Norwegian Alexander Sørloth.

Coach Diego Simeone’s team came into the match seeking a return to winning ways after three games without a victory, having drawn 1-1 in the league against Real Madrid and Real Sociedad, and suffering a 4-0 humiliation against Benfica in the Champions League.

However, the match didn’t start as Atletico had hoped, as they trailed by a goal in the first half scored by Cameroonian Ivan Neyou in the 34th minute, after an assist from Dani Raba.

The home team equalized in the second half through Sørloth after a pass from Belgian Axel Witsel (69th minute). Frenchman Antoine Griezmann then gave Atletico the lead in the 81st minute with a cross from Giuliano Simeone, Diego Simeone’s son.

Griezmann was initially shown a red card in the final moments after a foul on Neyou, but the decision was downgraded to a yellow card after a VAR review.

In the dying seconds of the match, Sørloth added his second goal of the game (90+9 minutes) with an assist from substitute Julian Alvarez, sealing the victory.

Atletico, now with five wins this season, prepares for their Champions League clash against Lille on Wednesday, sitting third in the La Liga standings with 20 points, four points behind both leaders Barcelona and defending champions Real Madrid.

Leganés, meanwhile, remains stuck in 17th place with just eight points.

In another match, Real Mallorca claimed their fifth win of the season by defeating Rayo Vallecano 1-0, thanks to a header from Kosovar Vedat Muriqi in the 75th minute following a corner.