“Atlético Madrid hangs on for a win against Valladolid”

Atlético Madrid 2:1 Valladolid

(31’ Godin), (45’ Falcao P); (55’ Bueno)    

Atletico Madrid’s win at the Vicente Calderón was their 5^th consecutive victory. The Europa League winners have had a fantastic start to their season. They are undefeated, they easily won their first Europa League game last week, and Radamel Falcao has already scored 8 goals.

Last night, they further proved their strong start to the season with a victory over Valladolid. However, a fumble from Belgian keeper, Thibaut Courtois, put Valladolid back in the game in the second half, though they couldn’t equalize.

 

Atleti had a very strong first half. They kept possession and had a lot of opportunities to score. In the first 30 minutes Atleti kept shooting only to be disappointed when Valladolid’s keeper continuously saved each shot on net. The deadlock was finally broken when Diego Godin approached the net unmarked after a great pass from Koke. Godin proceeded to casually flick the ball over the opposing keeper into the net. As a defender, Godin was very pleased with his first goal of the season.

Just as the first half was about to come to a close, a foul on Diego Costa gave Atleti a penalty kick. It was no surprise that Falcao stepped up to take the kick. It’s also no surprise that a goal was scored. When you put “El Tigre” that close to the net, you can basically call it a goal already scored. Falcao sent a nice low ball the right corner of the net to put “Los Rojiblancos” up 2-0 at the half.

Atlético Madrid started the second half strong as well, but the game changed a bit ten minutes into the second half.  Valladolid’s forward, Alberto Bueno, took a relatively weak shot on net which ended up going in, due to a fumble on Courtois’ part. It looked like he was going to block it, until the ball awkwardly went through his arms. In reality, it should have been an easy save. There is no doubt that Courtois was embarrassed after that one. However, everyone makes mistakes and he recovered relatively well. Of course the fans were more forgiving since the goal didn’t cost Atleti the game. It did, however, give Valladolid momentum, but thankfully “Los Colchoneros” were able to hold on until the end for the win.

written by Donais Deetz