Atletico Madrid 1-1 Espanyol
Atletico Madrid continued to be bogged down, this time by Espanyol and are now four matches without a win. As the narrative gods would have it, once again Joao Felix looked like best of Atletico Madrid’s attackers again.
The home side went at Espanyol in the first half and after just 28 minutes they were handed a man advantage after Leandro Cabrera was sent off for bringing down Alvaro Morata as the last man. Atleti then peppered the Espanyol goal before the break, but Los Pericos were valiant and blocked nearly every one.
The second half was set up for the same pattern until a lone attack was put together by the visiting side. Sergi Darder drove forward, played the ball wide and then continued his run in order to get on the end of Joselu’s header back across goal.
Renewed by the goal with half an hour to go, Espanyol were dealing with Atleti well until the entrance of Joao Felix. The Portuguese added a clarity of purpose to Atleti and a goal with just over ten minutes to go. Taking a ball over to the left flank down with his chest, he unleashed a drive past Benjamin Lecomte at the near post.
It was desperation for Espanyol at that point but the likes of Lecomte, Sergi Gomez and Vinicius Souza all making excellent challenges to thwart Felix and Atleti.
The whistles rang out at the final one from the referee – some of them no doubt for the arbiter, but once again frustration was the pervasive emotion for Los Colchoneros. Espanyol take a heartening point back to Barcelona, Diego Simeone continues to face more questions than he can currently provide the answers for.
