Three minutes. It was all it took to Alvaro Morata to decide the game against Sociedad for Atletico Madrid. The striker scored twice both in the 30th and 33rd minutes and secured a 2-0 victory over Real Sociedad on Sunday, away from home at Anoeta Stadium, for the 26th round of the Spanish Championship. The Spanish striker, who came from Chelsea had scored his first goal for the colchoneros last week. Coincidently, he had also scored both against his former clubs, Real Madrid and Juventus in the La Liga and UEFA Champions League respectively, but both goals were ruled out by the VAR.
The three points led the second place to remain seven points off the first place Barcelona and five ahead of Real Madrid, third place. Atletico faces the Catalans still for La Liga at the Camp Nou on April 6. Real Sociedad are now with 35 points, out of the zone of classification for the Champions League, in 8th.
Morata was the only one to have chances to score for Atletico. He wasted the first opportunity at the 17th, in an exit of the goalkeeper in which it was alone facing the net, but it was disturbed. Shortly after, at 20, he fired from a good crossing, but Rulli made a good defense. At 30, he opened the scoring. After Godín deflected a corner kick from the top, he headed home. Then at the 33rd, he aroused higher than any Sociedad defender and classy headed it home.
The colchoneros stopped there. Filipe Luís did not return from the half because of a muscular problem. Koke was even sent off in the 17th minute but Atletico took pressure from Real Sociedad and managed to leave the field with not only the three points but also the clean sheet.
Do you think it’s still possible for Atletico to fight against Barcelona for the League title? I think it’s possible. They are 7 points off Barcelona but still play against them. If they manage to beat the Catalans at the Camp Nou, they can dream of them dropping some more points. We shall see what happens!