Antoine Griezmann was outstanding as Atletico Madrid cruised against Cadiz 5-1 on Wednesday to go into second place in La Liga, passing their rivals Real Madrid in the process. The team managed by Diego Simeone is now one point ahead of the champions but thirteen points behind the leaders, Barcelona, who just need two more points to capture the title.
Struggling Valencia fought to a 1-1 draw with Villarreal, which is now in fifth place, but they are still in 17th position, tied on points with Getafe, which is currently in 18th place and beat Celta Vigo 1-0.
Griezmann scored the first goal of the game for Atletico Madrid against Cadiz in the second minute, giving his team a commanding lead and allowing him to maintain his outstanding form as a player. This season in La Liga, the French attacker has contributed to both 13 goals and 13 assists for his team.
The Rojiblancos have been the greatest team in the division in 2023, and Griezmann has been the orchestrator of their success. Even if it is too late for them to collect any trophy, passing Real will still give them some reward, although a minor one.
The third goal was scored by Alvaro Morata in the 49th minute, while the fourth goal was scored by Yannick Carrasco after he converted a penalty. Chucky Lozano scored an outstanding consolation goal for Cadiz, which is currently in 15th place and is only one point above the relegation zone, but soon after that, Nahuel Molina scored Atletico’s fifth goal.
At Mestalla, Valencia’s Samuel Lino scored to cancel out Villarreal striker Nicolas Jackson’s first goal, sparing the home team from a fourth loss in six matches and keeping them barely above the relegation zone. Jackson scored the opening goal for Villarreal.
Getafe maintained their pursuit of them by squeaking out a tight victory due to an early penalty from Enes Unal. This placed pressure on 19th-place Espanyol, who are three points behind Getafe and will go to Sevilla on Thursday. The team captained by Jose Bordalas was able to mitigate some of the damage caused by their 1-0 loss to Espanyol on Sunday.
Villarreal’s prospects of qualifying for the Champions League have been hurt as a result of the tie, since they are now seven points behind Real Sociedad in fourth place, who defeated the defending champions Real Madrid on Tuesday.