MADRID, March 19 Atletico Madrid continued their recent fine form heading into the international break with a 3-0 home win over struggling Valencia.
Antoine Griezmann put Atletico ahead in the 22nd minute with a strike from the arc to give his club their fifth win in six games on Saturday night.
Hugo Duro ruled out his equalizer for Valencia eight minutes later. Yannick Carrasco and Thomas Lemar sealed a comfortable second-half victory for Diego Simeone’s side to move within five points of Real Madrid, who travel to Barcelona on Sunday.
Vallecano and Girona shared four goals earlier in the day in an entertaining game in which Leo took the lead twice but the visitors leveled twice, according to Xinhua.
In the 23rd minute, Issie Palisson’s wonderful lob shot opened the scoring. In the 29th minute, Viktor Tsikhankov scored the first goal of the game to make the score 1-1.
Oscar Trejo scored an individual goal in the 34th minute to get Rayo back on track, but Tsyhankov’s second of the game saved Girona a point early in the second half after Rayo nearly missed a penalty after Trejo and Isi attempted to miss a penalty. Hilariously missed a penalty pass instead of a shot.
Celta Vigo continued to improve in the win over Espanyol, with Iago Aspas celebrating his return to Spain with a 45th-minute penalty to give his side a 2-0 lead after Gabri Veiga’s opener.
Carles Perez scored before Jose Gragera brought another goal for a struggling Espanyol, consoling the Spaniards.
Gonzalo Melero scored a 96th-minute penalty to save Almeria a point in their relegation battle with Cadiz, who were on track after Roger Marti’s close-range opener in the 49th win.
Athletic Bilbao moved up to seventh on Friday night as Inigo Martinez, Gorka Guruzeta and Mikel Vesga won 3-1 away at Barea Dolid.
–IANS
play free online games
Recommended: Sports Management Course