Live

LIVE: OTB Breakfast

07:30 AM-10:00 AM

LIVE: OTB Breakfast
Advertisement
Soccer

Fernando Torres experiences peak and trough during Atletico Madrid thriller

Fernando Torres' future at boyhood club Atletico Madrid had appeared to be in doubt recently. But...



Fernando Torres experiences pe...
Soccer

Fernando Torres experiences peak and trough during Atletico Madrid thriller

Fernando Torres' future at boyhood club Atletico Madrid had appeared to be in doubt recently.

But last week the former Liverpool and Chelsea striker reminded the club and manager Diego Simeone that he still has something to offer by scoring twice in a 2-0 win for Atletico against Leganes.

He found the net again as Atletico faced Celta Vigo in Sunday night's La Liga encounter at the Vicente Calderon.

And it was a sublime goal that saw the 32 year old Atletico academy graduate roll back the years.

The striker received the ball just inside the Celta box with his back to goal, controlling the pass in from Yannick Carrasco with a good first touch before teeing himself up for an overhead effort which made its way into the back of the net in style.

That goal came on 11 minutes to level the scores at 1-1 after Celta had taken an early lead through a Gustavo Cabral header.

Midway through the first half, Torres had the chance to put Atletico 2-1 up when Carrasco was brought down in the box and a penalty was awarded. 

Surely confident from the manner of his first goal, you would have banked on Torres finding the net from the spot kick but instead he contrived to smack his effort off the crossbar.

It looked like it would cost Atletico dear when Celta took the lead 12 minutes from time through John Guidetti.

But Atletico were able to stage a stirring fight back on their home patch.

First Carrasco guided a shot in with four minutes to go before Antoine Griezmann finished from close range to seal a 3-2 victory.

Atletico have had an indifferent season domestically and while victory over Celta will not aid in what appears to be a forlorn chase for the title, it keeps them ticking over in their hunt to secure a Top Four place and Champions League football for next season. They have moved up to fourth, one point above Real Sociedad.

Elsewhere in Spain at the weekend, Barcelona thrashed Alaves 6-0 away to move within a point of La Liga leaders Real Madrid.

However, Real have two games in hand and beat Osasuna 3-1 away on Saturday.

Third place Sevilla also edged Las Palmas away 1-0 to stay four points clear of Atletico who are seven behind Real.

Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!

Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.


Read more about

Soccer