Three days before the Madrid derby against Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid snatched victory on Thursday on the pitch of Celta Vigo (1-0) during the seventh day of La Liga thanks to a late goal from its recruit Julian Alvarez, served by Antoine Griezmann.
Long unable to develop the game and endanger the Galicians, the Colchoneros (3rd, 15 points) exulted in the 90th minute when the Argentine world champion, who entered in the 54th minute, took a perfect cross from the attacker French to offer three precious points to his new club (1-0).
Diego Simeone’s men, who seemed to be heading towards a rather well-paid draw, remain two lengths behind their enemies Real (2nd, 17 points), whom they host on Sunday (9 p.m.) in a derby which can already be worth a lot, and six from FC Barcelona (1st, 21 points), undefeated leader.
Celta, who may have some regrets after having obtained the best chances of the match through their attackers Iago Aspas and Borja Iglesias, fell on an imperial Jan Oblak on his line to keep his team in the game (42nd, 57th, 74th).
Earlier in the evening, the Villarreal of Marcelino, the short-lived coach of Olympique de Marseille last year, revived after its heavy defeat at home against Barça (5-1) by overthrowing the other club Catalan of Espanyol Barcelona (2-1), thanks to a double from the Spanish European champion Ayoze Pérez.
The ex-Leicester player now has six goals in seven days and is close behind the Pole Robert Lewandowski (7) in the scorers’ rankings. And the “yellow submarine” moved thanks to him to fourth place (14 pts).
Still far from the European places, Betis Seville (11th, 9 points) had to settle for a draw (1-1) on the lawn of the red lantern Las Palmas (20th, 3 points) despite the fourth achievement in three matches by former Parisian Giovani Lo Celso.
