Atletico de Madrid haven’t lost sight of the european places thanks top this victory over a battling but imprecise Real Sociedad, which allows the red-and-whites a glimpse of the UEFA places, only five points away.
In a match in which the beautiful was notable only for its absence, Antonio Lopez’s right-footed strike from Gronkjaer’s pass was enough for the win, despiter the fact that the scoreline could have been different thanks to two great chances from Fernando Torres. Only a touch of bad luck and tight marking from Labaka prevented the forward from crediting his Liga goalscoring account. In the first half Torres attempted a spectacular bicyclr-kick which missed the Real goal by no more than a couple of metres. In the second period Real Sociedad let their guard down, allowing Torres to look for goal thanks to his tremendous pace. With 79 minutes on the clock, Torres followed up a great piece of individual play - after recieving a pass from Raúl Medina – the post spat back a Torres effort, and unfortunately the forward couldn’t take advantage of the rebound. The second big chance came two minutes later when Ibagaza, sent through by Fernando, was one on one with Riesgo but didn’t get the ball under full control. After a few minutes of desperate attacks from Real Sociedad, Medina Cantalejo blew the final whistle on a match in which the three points bagged were the most important thing.

Photo: J. A. Sirvent