Report: Atlético cruise to historic win over Oviedo | OneFootball

Historic victory for Atlético de Madrid by 2-0, becoming the first team in the history of the competition to take the lead in every match during the first 14 rounds of La Liga. A historic milestone, further enhanced by the few minutes the team has spent trailing on the scoreboard in this first stretch of the championship, allowing them to keep pace with Real Madrid and Barcelona (with Villarreal also in the mix), in a very tight battle at the top of the standings.

In reality, the team needed just 25 minutes to seal the fate of a match in which Cholo Simeone chose to rotate, giving starts to Sørloth (who would go on to be the protagonist of the match) and Griezmann, thus resting Julián Álvarez. A similar situation occurred with Barrios and Gallagher, as well as with Pubill and Josema Giménez. In the end, all of them participated in the second half, as did Giuliano Simeone.

The rest did not affect the victory against the Asturian team, but it was planned with an eye on the tough league fixtures coming up next week, with a key December for league ambitions (with the end of the first half of the season) and also in the Champions League (with the goal of reaching the Top-8).

With these premises, the rojiblanco team spared no effort to try to impose themselves on Oviedo from the start, with a clear chance for Sørloth against Escandell, who prevented Atleti’s first goal. The Norwegian’s luck in front of goal would improve from that point on.

Oviedo tried to play without sitting back, pressing Atleti’s ball distribution and build-up play, which at times led to counterattacks that tried to create danger, although Oblak (returning to the Metropolitano goal) was never truly troubled.

Just before the first goal of the match, Sørloth headed a Griezmann corner, which the Oviedo defense deflected to the far post, but the Norwegian couldn’t make clear contact towards goal.

But right after, in the 15th minute, Nico González connected with Baena, who found Hancko, finishing with a low cross to Sørloth, who capped off Atleti’s team move with what would be the first goal of the match.

While the visitors tried to push forward in attack, ten minutes later came the second and definitive goal for Atleti and of the match.

Once again Hancko looked for the Norwegian, who this time beat Carmo in the box, blasting past Escandell, who could do nothing to prevent the Nordic striker’s brace.

A brace that could have been even greater but, due to refereeing decisions (a clear push in the box by Nacho Vidal on Sørloth’s back as he was about to go for the finish after a cross) or a lack of decisive finishing in the final moment of the play, it wasn’t to be and he finished with two goals to his name.

From there until the end, the only highlight was a great pass from Cazorla to Hassan, who tried to finish without letting the ball drop after a cross from the Oviedo midfielder, but his shot went well wide.

SECOND HALF CHANGES TO SEAL THE WIN

A masterful Baena made way for Giuliano at halftime, to begin distributing those minutes that will be important in next week’s fixtures. These changes also helped seal the home win, as Oviedo came out determined to make things very difficult for Atleti, creating the visitors’ most dangerous chances in the early stages of the second half.

But with the substitutions, the team regained composure and managed to control the ball and create chances to score a third goal (such as a great pass from Hancko to Nico González in the heart of the six-yard box, which he almost connected with right in front of goal, and which would have been the third if not for Costas’ intervention).

With the spider on the field, along with Barrios, Raspadori, Josema Giménez and company, Atleti did not suffer (apart from a few passing errors near our box in the final minutes of the match), and even could have scored a third, with a one-on-one from Giuliano and a shot from Julián that went over, which would have been disallowed anyway for offside by Giuliano at the start of the play.

In short, a comfortable victory, three important points, and now it’s time to focus on Barcelona.

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