Atlético Madrid won their last friendly fixture of preseason calendar against a Nigerian side of star players. Red-and-whites controlled the game after Gaitán scored in the first half, Bolakale tied and Godín sentenced at the end. Fernando Torres was out of Simeones’ squad for this last Ramón de Carranza Trophy after playing the full 90 minutes of semi-finals.

Diego Pablo Simeone used a different starting eleven from the semi-final to give minutes to most of the players who travelled to the Carranza Trophy. Gaitán once again left the mark of his class with a shot that the Nigerian keeper could not stop when they were 30 minutes into the match. Atlético’s control had produced a goal and the second half could have ended with more goals. Gameiro almost scored it but the keeper Ezenwa saved his team. And Thomas shot high in our team’s last chance.

In the second half, Atlético dominated although without too much depth and the African squad did their best although their options were reduced due to the good defensive work of our players. Saúl could have scored the second but the Nigerian keeper saved his team again. Good match from Thomas, who gave a great performance in the midfield, even joining the attack and having options to score. However, the only option of the Africans ended in a goal in the final stretch of the match. But Godín scored the winning goal when the match was about to finish, with a goal from a corner kick.

- Match stats:

Atlético de Madrid: Oblak; Juanfran, Savic, Godín, Filipe Luis; Tiago, Koke, Thomas; Gaitán, Gameiro and Saúl.

Nigeria All Stars: Ezenwa; Solomon, Alimi, Obaje, Bassey, Nwobodo, Ifeanyi, Ariwachukwu, Nweke, Henlong y Egbuchunam. También jugaron: Bolokale, Ogbugh, Abdullay, Nwabulu, Ali and Olatunbosun.

Referee: Peña Varela (Andalucian Committee).

Goals:

1-0 (33’) Gaitán, with a powerful shot with his left leg in front of the keeper, who can’t stop the goal.
1-1 (86’) Bolakale scores with a low shot.
2-1 (89’) Godín heads to the net a corner kick from Koke.

- Match report by clubatleticodemadrid.com