Madrid (AFP)
Thanks to his nugget Joao Felix, Atlético Madrid dominated Villarreal 2-0 on Sunday for the 25th day of La Liga, and temporarily regains six points ahead of Real Madrid (3rd, 52 pts), which he meets in a week for the derby in the Spanish capital.
The Portuguese jewel entered at the break sealed the victory for the "Colchoneros" with a volley after a chest check, and celebrated his 10th achievement of the season with a look full of rage (69th).
Previously, Diego Simeone's men unblocked the situation on a cross from French international Thomas Lemar headed by Stefan Savic, and countered by opposing defender Alfonso Pedraza before entering Villarreal's net (25th).
Author of a great start to the season, the Portuguese striker who arrived at Atlético in the summer of 2019 had a difficult start to 2021: between injuries and coronavirus, the young prodigy had failed to regain his momentum at the start of the season, regularly confined to the sidelines by Simeone.
While Thomas Lemar, also returning from a Covid-19 episode, shone in the first period by winning in the construction of each attack and delivering an assist, the French winger was replaced by Joao Felix at the part time, possibly due to pain in the left knee.
For Atlético, it's a big breath: the Madrilenians were going through a very delicate month of February, and had only caught one victory in their last five matches in all competitions (1 victory, 2 draws, 2 losses).
A success that allows them to regain confidence, to regain five points ahead of Barça (2nd, 53 pts) and provisionally six over their other pursuer, Real Madrid of Zinédine Zidane (3rd, 52 pts).
Merengues who receive Real Sociedad on Monday evening and who begin to recover their injuries, one week before the derby of the Spanish capital against Atlético (Sunday, March 7).
For Unai Emery's men, this setback breaks the good dynamics of the "yellow submarine", current 7th in Liga who had just chained two convincing victories against Salzburg (2-0, 2-1) in the 16th of Europa League final.
Among the other meetings of the day, the Betis Sevilla won narrowly 1-0 at the promoted Cadiz to return to the qualifying places for Europe (6th), while Granada also won against another promoted , Elche (2-1).
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