Leganes End Liga Leaders Atletico’s Winning Streak
Atletico Madrid’s 1-0 defeat at Leganes on Saturday put an end to a club record 15 consecutive victories, as a result of Antoine Griezmann’s late penalty.
In the closing stages of the second half, Griezmann dragged a subpar penalty wide to send Atletico to their second league defeat. Matija Nastasic gave Leganes an early lead.
At the halfway point, Diego Simeone’s side were able to defeat Real Madrid and Barcelona thanks to their outstanding performance against Leganes, opening the door to Spain’s big two.
Real Madrid and Las Palmas have a chance to top of the table on Sunday, while Barcelona can close the six-point lead over Atletico at Getafe later on Saturday.
“We didn’t get into the game well enough, I thought we were low on energy, it wasn’t enough from us”, Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak told DAZN.
“We’ll keep our head up after (winning) 15 games, we lost this one and we have to keep going forwards… unfortunately the streak is over”.
The goalkeeper declared that Atletico would continue to compete for the title for the first time since 2021.
“The league is long, there are a lot of games until the end and it’s clear that it doesn’t end in January”, added Oblak.
Madrid minnows Leganes, 15th, battled well in defence to keep Atletico at bay in the first half.
Griezmann struck the post, and Marko Dmitrovic slammed away with his second effort from the rebound, while Julian Alvarez of the Rojiblancos had another attempt blocked.
Juan Cruz threatened on a rare forray forward for the hosts, but Oblak reacted quickly to keep his cross-shot out.
Serbian defender Nastasic fired in the lead from a corner in the first half before controversially giving the hosts a penalty for a disputed handball by Sergio Gonzalez.
Griezmann rolled his 90th-minute effort wide of the goal after taking responsibility from the penalty spot.
Angel Correa’s final chance came at the feet of Atletico’s Dmitrovic, who bravely blocked his effort from close range to seal Leganes’ victory.
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‘ Part of the game’ ,
Leganes also defeated Barcelona in December, and Dmitrovic claimed elbow grease contributed to their shock victories.
“There’s nothing special (about the team), there’s work behind every game, the whole week”, said Dmitrovic.
“Yes, we were able to defeat two of the top three clubs in La Liga, but we have no excuses; what we did against Barca and Atletico must be repeated.”
” You can’t guarantee you’ll win games in this league, but the same effort, desire, hope and work, we have to repeat. “
Atletico must now bounce back in the Champions League, where they are aiming to reach the knock-out rounds, against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday.
” They were 15 extraordinary games, I feel enormously proud at having set the (consecutive) winning record in Atletico’s history, “Simeone told DAZN.
“They had the strength to continue working hard in defense, and it’s a strength to defend as well as Leganes did,” Leganes said.
We must accept that losing a game is necessary, and we must get ready for Tuesday.
Source: Channels TV
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