A second-half double from Antoine Griezmann earned Atletico Madrid a stunning 4-3 comeback home win over Sevilla in LaLiga on Sunday, as the hosts claimed their ninth straight win in all competitions.
Atletico made a dominant start at home, with Griezmann hitting the crossbar before Rodrigo De Paul opened the scoring in the 10th minute, hammering a rocket from the edge of the box and into the top corner.
Sevilla’s Dodi Lukebakio equalised just two minutes later with a powerful low strike following a corner before Isaac Romero put them ahead after a quick counter-attack in the 32nd minute, shooting across goalkeeper Jan Oblak, who could only get a finger to the ball.
Atletico thought they had levelled the score just before halftime when Julian Alvarez put the ball in the net from a De Paul pass, but the VAR disallowed the Argentine striker’s goal for an offside in the build-up.
Juanlu Sanchez then extended the visitors’ advantage in the 57th minute with a close-range finish off Kike Salas’s second assist of the game before Griezmann pulled one back for Atletico five minutes later.
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Substitute Samuel Lino struck from long range to beat Sevilla keeper Alvaro Fernandez, who had pulled off some key saves but could not prevent the Brazilian’s first goal of the season.
Griezmann found the net again four minutes into stoppage time to seal the victory that left Atletico third in the standings with 35 points, one behind Real Madrid and three shy of leaders Barcelona.
“We are doing well. We struggled to get back into the game. Sevilla had two chances and scored two goals,” Griezmann told Movistar.
“We are a united group, we all are on the same path. It’s the way forward to dream big. We will try to win everything. There will be difficult moments but we have to keep fighting.”
Sevilla, who came close to their first win away to Atletico since 2008, remain 13th on 19 points.
“We conceded too much. It slipped away from us. The draw wasn’t even bad. It is painful,” Sevilla’s Fernandez said.
“But we know that Atletico are the fittest team in LaLiga, so we are very proud.” (Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City; editing by Clare Fallon)