Superb Las Palmas pick up shock, historic victory over Atletico Madrid
Los Amarillos dominated possession in the early stages with Real Madrid loanee Marvin Park and Alberto Moleiro providing plenty of excitement for home fans at Estadio Gran Canaria.
It was still Atleti who had the first notable attempt on goal thanks to Pablo Barrios’ ingenuity in the box on the quarter-hour mark, even if his eventual strike went straight at Alvaro Valles.
There was another warning for the hosts when Antoine Griezmann carved them open with a superb ball for Rodrigo Riquelme to run onto, but Valles flicked the ball wide with his boot.
Atléti had begun to take charge of proceedings by that point, but the lack of goalmouth action meant there have been just four first-half goals in Las Palmas’ 12 league games this term. It took just five second-half minutes for the hosts to open the scoring, though.
Atleti completely stopped when Sergi Cardona kept the ball in play by the finest of margins and offloaded it to Moleiro, who played a pass that was beautifully dummied by Javi Muñoz and exquisitely guided out of Jan Oblak’s reach by Kirian Rodríguez.
Riquelme was unlucky not to provide an immediate response, as his effort hit the post and Valles before the goalkeeper gratefully grabbed it, but hit a disappointing strike off-target shortly after the hour mark as the visitors searched for an equaliser.
Any frustrations were compounded when Atleti’s deficit was doubled in the 75th minute. Mario Hermoso’s sloppy pass was punished, as Munir slid in Benito Ramírez for the substitute to hammer the ball past Oblak.
Álvaro Morata renewed the visitors’ hopes by clinically turning home Riquelme’s cross for his 10th goal in all competitions this term.
However, Barrios’ venomous strike was parried and Morata’s follow-up hit the crossbar as Las Palmas held on to earn the fifth win in their last six competitive matches - four of which have finished 2-1. Atleti, meanwhile, suffered their first defeat in 10 matches across all competitions and missed their opportunity to top LaLiga ahead of the weekend’s fixtures.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Kirian Rodriguez (Las Palmas)
