Sevilla recovered from lacking an early penalty to beat La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid 1-0 at house on Sunday (April 4) and hand a lifeline to title challengers Barcelona and Real Madrid. Atleti’s Jan Oblak saved a penalty for the second recreation in a row when he repelled Lucas Ocampos’ spot-kick within the eighth minute whereas Sevilla’s Joan Jordan hit the bar moments later in a rampant begin by the hosts because the guests seemed rattled.
Sevilla lastly discovered a breakthrough within the seventieth minute when left again Marcos Acuna headed in a cross from fellow full again Jesus Navas and the referee ignored Atletico’s claims that Ocampos dealt with the ball at the beginning of the transfer. Atleti nonetheless prime the standings on 66 factors however third-placed Barcelona can transfer inside some extent of them with a win at house to Real Valladolid on Monday. Real Madrid are second on 63 after beating Eibar 2-0 at house on Saturday.
Atletico captain Koke criticised the referee for not reviewing Acuna’s aim. “It was a clear handball for the goal and there was another handball (by Diego Carlos) which should have been a second yellow card,” he mentioned.
“We have VAR which has to be there to help out. Today wasn’t our day. On other days it has favoured us, today it didn’t go our way.”
He added: “This is a tough defeat but we tried everything. We struggled in the first half but in the second we had chances.”
Atletico had solely scraped a 1-0 win over struggling Alaves of their earlier fixture due to a late penalty save from Oblak they usually once more failed to supply a lot in assault, barely threatening Bono’s aim within the first half.
They carved out a transparent likelihood moments after Acuna had damaged the impasse when Marcos Llorente received to the byline and located an unmarked Mario Hermoso, however the defender blazed nicely over the bar from inside the realm. Forward Angel Correa had one other likelihood to stage within the last minutes however noticed his shot saved by Bono.
To make issues worse, Atletico’s two prime scorers – Luis Suarez and Llorente – each earned yellow playing cards which is able to see them suspended for subsequent week`s journey to Real Betis. But Koke mentioned his aspect nonetheless absolutely believed they may go on and win the title.
“We don’t doubt ourselves at all, this is always a difficult place to go to and anything could have happened. It’s football, we still have our fate in our own hands,” he mentioned.
Coach Simeone added: “We need to keep on working and increase our intensity levels as that’s what got us to this stage. La Liga’s title race is always tough right until the end of the season but we have to find a way to get the players playing like they were at the start of the season.”
