Alexander Sorloth’s double helped Atletico Madrid come from behind to defeat Leganes 3-1 in La Liga on Sunday. Diego Simeone’s side labored against the minnows from the south of Madrid, but after Yvan Neyou put the visitors ahead, Sorloth equalized with a beautiful finish, and Antoine Griezmann sneaked home the second. Norwegian target man Sorloth sealed the win late in stoppage time with a poacher’s finish. Atletico moved up to third place, four points behind champions Barcelona, who visit Sevilla later on Sunday.
Atletico has only won once in their previous five games in all competitions. They drew 1-1 with Rayo Vallecano, Real Madrid, and Real Sociedad, and lost 4-0 to Benfica in the Champions League. The bottom part of the Metropolitano stadium’s south stand, which had been closed by the Spanish football federation after some Atletico fans threw objects at Real Madrid players during the September derby, was empty.
Leganes seized a merited first-half lead when Neyou fired into the top corner past the helpless Jan Oblak. In the second half, Simeone made several changes, including replacing Rodrigo Riquelme with his son Giuliano Simeone. The 21-year-old midfielder played his part in Atletico’s victory after Sorloth’s superb flicked finish from Axel Witsel’s cut-back enabled the hosts draw level in the 69th.
Giuliano did an excellent job keeping the ball on the right flank, and his cross to the near post was converted by Griezmann, who slid in ahead of goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic. “In these weeks I’ve been concentrating a lot in the same spot (on the right) and I’m really happy with how I played and assisted for Griezmann,” Giuliano stated Movistar on Monday. “But (the win also) about the state of mind of the whole game in the second half, we realized we had to improve.”
Griezmann was then given a red card for a powerful tackle on Neyou, but the referee reduced it to a yellow when a VAR review revealed the former France player slid. Giuliano saved a late Leganes penalty claim after colliding with Munir El Haddadi in the Atletico area.
Sorloth sealed the win for the Rojiblancos with a close-range strike late on, his third league goal since coming from Villarreal this summer. “We did good work and didn’t get something in return for it, so it hurts,” said Neyou, who was ranked 17th.