Real Valladolid 0-5 Atletico Madrid: Visitors go second in LaLiga with rout

Atletico Madrid hammered bottom side Real Valladolid 5-0 in LaLiga to provisionally move into second place in the table.

Clement Lenglet netted his first goal for the club, and his first in LaLiga since 2020, when he turned in Marcos Llorente’s cross from close range in the 26th minute.

Julian Alvarez doubled the lead in the 35th, pouncing on a rebound from goalkeeper Karl Hein, who had blocked Antoine Griezmann’s shot but could not deny the Argentine striker from the second attempt.

Rodrigo De Paul made it 3-0 two minutes later with a first-time low shot and it could have been worse for Valladolid as Guiliano Simeone and Jose Maria Gimenez both had efforts ruled out for offside in the first half.

Griezmann added another seven minutes into the second half after a brilliant move saw him dink Hein, with even the opposition fans prompted into applause.

Ivan Sanchez rattled the crossbar for the hosts, but it was Atletico who would find another goal as Alexander Sorloth rounded things off in stoppage time by prodding in Angel Correa’s cross.

Atletico are on 32 points, two ahead of Real Madrid, who have two games in hand. Barcelona, who lost 2-1 to Las Palmas earlier on Saturday, remain top with 34 points. Valladolid slumped to their tenth defeat in 15 games, leaving them bottom of the table on nine points.

Gran victoria del Atleti pic.twitter.com/OdSBIAIqAM

— Atlético de Madrid (@Atleti) November 30, 2024

Data Debrief: Turning on the style

It is a huge win that rounds off an impressive week for Atletico, who hit Sparta Prague for six in their Champions League match in midweek.

Diego Simeone’s men have scored four or more goals in two consecutive matches in all competitions for the first time since May 2023, while it is the first time since February 2018 that they have done so in consecutive away matches.

Atletico had six shots on target in the first half alone, scoring from half of them, and had nine overall as they created 3.77 expected goals (xG) against their struggling opponents.