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Atletico Madrid took on Cordoba today on a much needed win for Atleti as they continue to battle out for third place against Valencia and Sevilla FC as well. Antoine Griezmann was able to find the net for the first time in three games, netting his 15 goal of the season while teammate Saul Niguez netted his fourth.
Atletico Madrid has not been in great form since beating city rivals, Real Madrid back in February and have only been able to get one win out of the last five matches. They barely survived in the Champions League as well as they got past Bayer Leverkusen and are now into the quarterfinals as they were drawn to play against Real Madrid, a team they have been able to beat 5 times this season.
Griezmann has also been struggling to find the form he had in the beginning of the season and the second half of the season along with teammates Mario Mandzukic, Fernando Torres, Raul Garcia, and Arda Turan. As today’s win got them closer to third place, they will all need to step it up to find the net and acquire the three points from now on if they want to see a Champions League spot next season.
The first goal came in the fourth minute thanks to the frenchman, Griezmann. Griezmann noticed that the Cordoba defense made a mistake and he latched to the ball right away. From the midfield point, Griezmann was able to drive forward into the box before sweeping a left-footed strike into the bottom right corner across the goalkeeper Juan Carlos.
The second goal came in the 39 minute as Niguez was able to head one past goalkeeper Carlos. A throw in saw Jose Gimenez flick the ball into the danger area from the front post and Niguez drifted the ball in complete and opposite direction with a nice header and into the top right corner. The defense of Cordoba was asleep in the play and they saw themselves down two goals before the end of the first half.
The game ended in a 2-0 score and Atletico Madrid now sits in third place for the moment with 62 points while Cordoba face regulation with only 18 points in the table, 5 points behind 19th place Granada. The man of the match goes out to Griezmann for being able to find the net for the first time in three games and netting his 15 goal of the season. Atletico Madrid faces Real Sociedad on Tuesday while Cordoba faces Deportivo La Coruna on Wednesday.
Photo by: Denis Doyle/Getty Images
