Match Report: Battling Valencia CF lose 2-1 to Atletico Madrid

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Valencia CF lost 2-1 in their LaLiga Matchday 16 game away to Atletico Madrid, with Lucas Beltrán scoring the goal for Carlos Corberán's men.

Just 20 seconds into the match, Valencia CF had a great opportunity to take the lead. They pressed high up the pitch and won the ball back, but Hugo Duro's chipped effort went over goalkeeper Jan Oblak and crashed against the crossbar.

Thee visitors established dominance and created numerous chances in the Atletico Madrid penalty area, taking advantage of the width provided on the flanks by their setup. However, Julen Agirrezabala had to intervene to stop a counterattack finished by Sorloth. The move had begin in controversial fashion with a foul by Barrios on Pepelu in midfield that was not called.

Despite a good start, Los Rojiblancos took the lead from a corner kick, as Koke pounced on a loose ball and fired a low shot inside the right post to make it 1-0.

In the following minutes, Valencia CF tried to regain control of the game, and once again found space behind the home team's defence.

They came close to equalizing with a free kick taken by Pepelu and headed by Hugo Duro, but it went wide of goal.

A deserved equaliser appeared to have come off a Valencia CF corner, but after a VAR review, it was disallowed for offside against Duro. On the very next move, Agirrezabala saved a shot from Sorloth inside the penalty area.

Just before the end of the first half, Ugrinic collected a rebound and had his shot blocked by Hancko.

SECOND HALF

The opening minutes of the second half featured a battle for control of the game, and Corberán brought on Lucas Beltrán to turn things in Valencia CF's favour. They continued to press high up the pitch to force Atletico into errors in their own half. This pressure paid off, and the equaliser came when Beltrán unleashed a thunderous strike from outside the box, after a sublime dribble past Almada, to open his account for the club and take the score to 1-1.

Shortly after, Giuliano had a chance to put Atlético Madrid ahead again with a header that Copete blocked. Javi Guerra and Santamaría came off the bench in a double switch, as Valencia CF changed personnel.

Minutes later, Griezmann scored the second goal for Atletico Madrid, taking advantage of a ball played through the defence.

Ramazani and Gayà were both introduced before the end, and Valencia CF kept pushing, but there was no way of pulling level for a second time. They fell to a 2-1 defeat on the road.

Next up, Valencia CF travel to take on Sporting Gijon in the Copa del Rey, on Tuesday night.

MATCH STATS

2. ATLETICO MADRID: Oblak, Ruggeri, Molina (Le Normand, 46’), Hancko, Marc Pubill, Koke ©, Barrios, Giuliano, Nico (Gallagher, 59’), Sorloth and J. Álvarez (Griezmann, 59’).

1. VALENCIA CF: Agirrezabala, Thierry R.,Foulquier, Cömert (Santamaría, 72’), Copete, J. Vázquez (Gayà, 82’), Pepelu ©(Ramazani, 82’), Ugrinic (Javi Guerra, 72’), Diego López (Beltrán, 55’), A. Almeida and Hugo Duro.

GOALS: Koke, 17’ (1-0); Beltrán, 63’ (1-1); Griezmann, 75’(2-1).

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