Antoine Griezmann took advantage of champions Barcelona’s earlier error to lead Atletico Madrid into third place on Saturday with a 1-0 victory against Real Mallorca.
Atletico Madrid capitalised on the 1-1 draw between the Catalans and Barca against Rayo Vallecano, tying them on points despite Barca having played one more game and having a superior goal differential.
Surprisingly, Girona leads La Liga and plays Athletic Bilbao on Monday. Real Madrid, in second position and one point ahead of Atletico, plays at Cadiz on Sunday.
The teams were separated by a fantastic header from Griezmann after 64 minutes, while Mallorca, the visitors, missed a few excellent opportunities to close the game.
Koke, the record-setting Atletico Madrid midfielder, reached 600 games played for the team.
Koke told Movistar, “The match was very hard for us, Mallorca played a very serious game.”
With this goal, Griezmann now has 301 goals in his career and is quickly approaching the club record of 173 held by Luis Aragones. The French forward now has 170 goals at Atletico.
“(Griezmann) will be living history at Atletico Madrid, he will surpass Luis Aragones,” said Koke.
At the Metropolitano, the home team was in control from the outset, with Angel Correa scoring their best opportunity of the first half early on.
Although Diego Simeone’s team had the better of the possession, Mallorca’s strong defence held the Rojiblancos at a distance.
Before Mallorca’s Predrag Rajkovic denied an Alvaro Morata header early in the second half, neither custodian faced a test.
Griezmann finally gave Atletico the lead as he brilliantly headed home Mario Hermoso’s cross.
With ten minutes left, Jan Oblak made a nice save against Gio Gonzalez and was happy to see Amath Ndiaye, a former Atletico youth player, miss a well-placed shot.
Tuesday night, Atletico travels to Feyenoord in the Champions League with the knowledge that a win will get them to the round of 16.
Despite having played one fewer game than the three teams behind them, Mallorca, currently ranked 17th, is just one point above the relegation zone.
“We proceeded, we have some obvious opportunities,” Mallorca defender Martin Valjent said to Movistar.