It was a chastening afternoon for Atletico.
Atletico Madrid fell again all the way down to earth with an enormous bump as they had been surprised 3-0 by Rayo Vallecano, three days on from thrashing Barcelona 4-0 in the Copa del Rey.
Diego Simeone’s males have one foot within the Copa closing following their emphatic victory within the first leg of semi-final tie, however their exertions in that recreation appeared to have caught up with them as they slumped to a heavy defeat at Vallecas.
Fran Perez, Oscar Valentin and Nobel Mendy had been on track for Rayo as they climbed out of the relegation locations in fashion.
The inquest started in earnest for fourth-placed Atletico, with goalkeeper Jan Oblak issuing a pointed critique in his post-match interview.
“There’s no clarification, you’ll be able to’t select which video games to play, you must play all of them to win,” Oblak mentioned. “We went on the market to play to win, however our minds aren’t in the suitable place to win video games in a row, there’s no different clarification.”
Simeone, although, disagreed with Oblak’s evaluation.
“I don’t agree with what Oblak mentioned,” mentioned Simeone. “The group doesn’t decide and select video games, they competed poorly and when the opponent performs higher, they’re superior and so they beat you.
“There’s no want to clarify. The opponent was merely higher. We tried to create a number of performs on the suitable aspect the place we had been capable of make good progress, however we couldn’t discover a approach to rating, and so they had been decisive, pressed properly, didn’t give us time to suppose, and performed a very good recreation, whereas we couldn’t play the sport we wished to play.”
Atletico are solely four points clear of fifth-placed Real Betis within the race for Champions League qualifiction, Manuel Pellegrini’s aspect profiting from the Rojiblancos’ slip-up with a 2-1 win at Mallorca.
The purpose of the day in Spain, although, was scored by Largie Ramazani, whose gorgeous volley on the finish of a free-flowing group transfer noticed Valencia take the lead of their 2-0 win at Levante. The win moved Valencia two factors away from third-bottom Mallorca. Elsewhere, Athletic Bilbao beat backside membership Actual Oviedo 2-1.
Alisson to the rescue for Napoli
In Serie A, Alisson Santos salvaged some extent for Napoli in a vastly entertaining 2-2 draw with Roma.
Roma twice led by way of Donyell Malen, the previous Aston Villa man restoring their benefit from the penalty spot after his opener had been cancelled out by a deflected long-range strike from Leonardo Spinazzola.
However there was one other twist within the story when Alisson rifled into the bottom-left nook eight minutes from time. Defending champions Napoli are third, 11 factors behind leaders Inter, with Roma lacking the possibility to leapfrog them within the desk and put respiration room between them and fifth-placed Juventus. Roma are some extent forward of the Bianconeri in fourth.
Different Serie A outcomes: Udinese 1-2 Sassuolo, Cremonese 0-0 Genoa, Parma 2-1 Verona, Torino 1-2 Bologna
Lyon cement grip on third
Lyon are in a superb place to return to the Champions League stage after they beat Good 2-0.
Corentin Tolisso and Noah Nartey had been on track for Les Gones as they solidified their grip on third place, transferring 5 factors away from Marseille in fourth.
Auxerre boosted their hopes of security with a 3-1 win at backside membership Metz, whereas there have been wins for Lorient and Le Havre over Angers and Toulouse respectively.
Within the Bundesliga, Brajan Gruda scored an 89th-minute equaliser as Champions League-chasing RB Leipzig twice got here from behind to attract 2-2 with struggling Wolfsburg. Leipzig are fifth, two factors behind fourth-placed Stuttgart. The day’s different recreation noticed Augsburg beat backside membership Heidenheim to proceed their latest upturn in kind.
