Iker Luque makes his mark, Madrileño win away after 286 days | OneFootball

After the agonizing draw against Real Murcia, Atlético Madrileño traveled to Seville to visit Betis Deportivo at the CD Luis del Sol this Saturday, September 20 at 12:00. The match time was changed twice, and the venue witnessed the last away win for the red-and-white reserve team... last season. 286 days without an away victory.

The team led by Fernando Torres lined up as follows: Salvador Esquivel; Javier Boñar, Aleksa Puric, Ilias Kostis, Julio Díaz; Martín Bellotti, Javi Serrano; Iker Luque, Rayane Belaid, Arnau Ortiz; Omar Janneh. Omar returned to the starting eleven, as did Kostis, who made his first start after Barboza's injury, and this would be the last match for Rayane Belaid and Julio Díaz for at least almost a month due to their call-up to play in the U-20 World Cup.

The first quarter of an hour was evenly matched with the opponent, but the team had luck on their side with the referee after a penalty on Omar Janneh following a great play by Javier Boñar that started with a long ball from Ilias Kostis. A VAR review was requested, and the referee confirmed his decision to award a penalty and a red card to the opponent. Omar Janneh converted the penalty with some luck, as his shot could have been better, and scored his first goal of the season.

Even playing with a numerical advantage, the team was unable to dominate the opponent and suffered more than expected, conceding a goal after an individual play by Antonio Toral, but after a VAR review, the Murcian was ruled offside. Even so, the reserves were much inferior to the green-and-whites, with too many stoppages due to fouls from both sides.

In the second half, Torres made a move by bringing on Dani Martínez for Ilias Kostis and later introduced Jorge Castillo and Dario Sits for Martín Belotti and Arnau Ortiz. As the minutes passed, the opponent grew stronger and increasingly dominated the match, but in the final third, the same thing happened to them as to Atleti: there was always one action too many—be it a pass, a cut, or continuing a run—and it ended up wasting the opportunity.

But it was Madrileño who did not forgive, and after a great play between Rayane Belaid, Javier Boñar, and Omar Janneh, they scored the second goal. Omar received the ball, held it just long enough to assist Iker Luque, who fired an unstoppable shot into the top corner of the green-and-white net to make it 0-2, also his first goal of the season. Although he has had better matches, he has by far been the best player for Madrileño at the start of the league and is rewarded with a goal.

Finally, Romeo Hueso and Koke Mota came on for Javier Boñar and Omar Janneh. These changes were understandable due to the fatigue of the two starters and the yellow card received by the full-back, which he had to deal with throughout the match. Esquivel easily saved a 1-on-1 with the opponent and the referee blew the final whistle.

With this victory, the first of the season, Atlético Madrileño earns 3 crucial points to temporarily move out of the relegation zone and break the reserve team's bad run away from Madrid. 286 days without a win, with the same result at the same venue. In the next matchday, they will host UD Ibiza on Sunday the 28th from 20:30 in Alcalá de Henares.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.