Alvarez Brace Secures Atletico Victory

As they recovered from behind to overcome bottom club Real Valladolid 4-2 in a rain-soaked Metropolitano on Monday, Atlactic Madrid’s Julian Alvarez scored two vital penalties, so preserving their title ambitions.

Atletico third-placed now has 63 points, three behind Real Madrid and seven adrift of Barcelona. With seven games left, Valladolid, who lost their sixth consecutive game, still stands on sixteen points, fourteen points short of safety. Atletico striker Alvarez told DAZN, these are three crucial things. “We have to go on. Consider (the Saturday game at Las Palmas) rest and concentration. There is only that.

“We lost, but the main thing is that I had the possibility to get a hat-trick somewhere else. It became complicated once, but we handled it.”

In the twenty-first minute, Valladolid unexpectedly led when Mamadou Sylla gently scored a penalty, given following a VAR check for a handball.

Alvarez equalized from the spot just four minutes later, following another VAR intervention for a foul by Javi Sanchez on Giuliano Simeone, and the lead was fleeting. Then Simeone scored himself to give Atletico a 27th minute lead.

But the guests stunned Atletico once more by equalizing in the 56th minute when Sanchez’s free-kick bounced off Conor Gallagher in the wall and past Jan Oblakh.

With another well-taken Alvarez penalty following Henrique fouling Marcos Llorente, Atletico recovered the lead in the 71st minute. Eight minutes later, the Argentine forward nearly finished his hat-trick; but, Andre Ferreira, the goalkeeper, was fast to block his low shot.

Still, replacement Alexander Sorloth grabbed on the rebound to finish close-range and guarantee the victory.

“We did fairly. We understood our suffering would be inevitable. It’s unfortunate they returned,” Valladolid’s Sanchez remarked.

“We have to keep on and maintain this direction. Leave the crest where it merits to be. We have to grab it one game at a time. Fight right up until the very last.