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Carrasco steers Atletico Madrid to victory

1 month ago  Raphael   Sport News

In the absence of the rested Antoine Griezmann, Yannick Carrasco delivered for Atletico Madrid and scored a brace to send his side on their way to a 3-0 victory and another three-point haul. With one eye on Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final second leg in Leicester, Diego Simeone decided to rest his French top scorer - who had started every LaLiga match since serving a suspension in the opening round - but Los Rojiblancos still managed to get the job done against bottom-placed and injury-ravaged Osasuna. A first-half Carrasco strike from 22 yards was followed by the Belgian's header before most fans had retaken their seats after the half-time break, while Filipe Luis polished off the win with a third of the afternoon.Not even a couple of late missed penalties could spoil the home fans' afternoon.Osasuna did start intensely, but it didn't take Los Colchoneros long to wrestle control of the match from their guests and Carrasco caused their six-man defence a number of problems from his position on his preferred left flank.Angel Correa came close with one effort from distance, before he was blocked as he tried to connect with a Carrasco corner just ahead of the half-hour mark. Yet the Belgian took the initiative upon himself and scored a stunning goal in the 30th minute, dribbling his way through the middle of the park before accurately rolling the ball into the bottom corner from 22 yards away. Diego Godin came close to doubling the lead in the 38th minute, but his header whistled just past the post.Then Carrasco wasted an excellent chance to score his second before the interval, receiving a lofted diagonal pass from Nicolas Gaitan in acres of space, but dithering too long on his way to goal and seeing the chance snuffed out. However, the 23-year-old didn't waste his next sight of goal and headed home from another Gaitan cross just 64 seconds into the second half for the fourth Atleti brace of his young career. Fernando Torres also had a couple of chances to get in on the action on the club's 'El Nino Day', but was denied by the stretching paw of Salvatore Sirigu and has now failed to score in his past eight LaLiga matches. Conversely, left-back Filipe Luis has had no problem finding the back of the net in recent weeks and he bagged his third goal in four LaLiga matches as he curled the ball through a mass of bodies and around Sirigu with his weaker right foot in the 61st minute.With the match well and truly won, Simeone took Filipe Luis, Torres and Gaitan off to allow them some rest as well, introducing Alessio Cerci for his first league appearance of the season and Tiago Mendes, who returned after four months out. The home fans were delighted to see both players take to the pitch and the final quarter of an hour was played out in a bustling feel-good atmosphere, which was only slightly spoiled by two late missed penalties. After Angel Correa was felled by Sirigu in the 88th minute, Carrasco wasted the chance to score a hat-trick, before Thomas Partey also saw an attempt saved from the spot just seconds later.Match Sheet:3 -Atletico Madrid: Oblak; Juanfran, Godin, Lucas, Filipe (Savic, 67); Gaitan (Cerci, 76), Gimenez, Thomas, Carrasco; Correa, Torres (Tiago, 71).0 - Osasuna: Sirigu; Olavide (De Las Cuevas, 57), Oier, David Garcia, Fuentes, Clerc (Bunuel, 57); Tienza (Torres, 77), Causic, Berenguer; Kodro, Leon.Goals: 1-0 (Carrasco, min 30), 2-0 (Carrasco, min 47), 3-0 (Filipe Luis, min 61)Referee: Mario Melero Lopez Yellow cards: Gimenez (min 25), Kodro (min 43), Oier (min 54), Sirigu (min 89), De Las Cuevas (min 90) Fuentes (min 90)Stadium: Estadio Vicente Calderon