A horrible blunder from Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Ivo Grbic gifted La Liga basement aspect Elche a 1-0 victory at house on Sunday – solely its fourth win of the season.
The Croatian keeper, standing in for the injured Jan Oblak, let a protracted throw-in from the left touchline slip by means of his fingers contained in the six-yard field, with Elche’s Fidel Chaves in the proper place to faucet the ball right into a wide-open web within the forty first minute.
The loss left Atletico third within the desk on 69 factors, two behind native rivals Real Madrid, who beat Getafe 1-0 on Saturday.
Runaway leaders Barca has 82 factors and can get the possibility to clinch its twenty seventh LaLiga crown with 4 video games to spare when it faces Espanyol afterward Sunday.
“In the first half we were not good, nothing came out of it,” Atletico captain Koke advised Movistar Plus.
“In the second half the team reacted but we were not as we should be. We have to learn from this defeat for the future. We want to be as high as possible. Hopefully we can win the last few matches.”
Atletico put in a toothless efficiency and let Elche dominate proceedings from the start with nearly 60 per cent of possession in a dour first half.
After Fidel scored proper earlier than half-time, Atletico tried to point out some combating spirit and make a sport of it within the second half however Yannick Carrasco and Alvaro Morata scuffed its half-chances.
It was a wake-up name for an Atletico aspect who has had a wonderful second half of an in any other case disappointing season. It was eradicated from European competitors in November after ending final in its Champions League group, and has dropped as little as sixth within the LaLiga standings earlier than the World Cup break.
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com