Two teams that have grown with in the past couple years went head to head today as Atletico Madrid hosted Valencia at the Vicente Calderon Stadium on Sunday night. Atletico Madrid has been struggling to secure points the past few games as they tied against Sevilla last weekend and did the same today against Valencia with a late goal by Shkodran Mustafa in the second half to the match.
Atletico has not been able to maintain a run since they beat Real Madrid back in the beginning of February. They lost against Celta Vigo, beat Almeria but tied against Sevilla as well and have been able to secure only five points out of the possible 12 but luckily still sit in third place. Valencia, on the other hand, has come from fifth place to sit in fourth place now and only be one point behind third place and five points ahead of Sevilla. If they are able to continue this great form within the upcoming weeks, they could easily take third place if Atletico continues to give away points the way they have been doing the past few weeks.
The first goal came in the 32 minute as Jose Gimenez crossed in a free kick inside the box. Fernando Torres headed the ball towards Thiago who brought down the ball with his chest. Valencia players called for a hand ball in which got them distracted and Koke was able to get the pass from Thiago and slam it into the net of goalkeeper Diego Alves and make it a 1-0 game.
Valencia’s goal came in the 78 minute as Luis Gaya won a free-kick out on the left field. Dani Parejo’s free kick crashed against the top of the crossbar after Moya failed to get rid of it. The defense was asleep as well as Mustafi was there to nod it in from close range and level the game with 12 minutes to go.
Atletico Madrid got a bit of their own medicine when the defense well asleep and Valencia was able to tie the game in the second half and end the game with both teams securing only one point in the table. With this, Atletico sits in third place, six points behind Real Madrid and seven behind first place FC Barcelona. Valencia sits in fourth place with 54 points, a point behind Atletico, seven points behind Real Madrid and eight points behind FC Barcelona. Atletico faces Espanyol on saturday while Valencia faces Deportivo La Coruna on Friday to continue in this great form they have been.
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