Atlético de Madrid won this Saturday 0-1 on their visit to RCD Mallorca, with an early goal from Rodrigo Riquelme, in a match on matchday 34 of LaLiga EA Sports and which has helped the colchoneros to protect their fourth position , while the Balearic Islands have suffered another setback in their aspirations to save the category. At the Estadi Mallorca Son Moix, the visitors soon scored 0-1, marked by Riquelme with a beautiful maneuver at the top of the area. César Azpilicueta took a long shot from the right, Martin Valjent headed it in and the ball fell at the feet of Atlético’s number 17, who had his back to the goal and quickly turned around. At the same time, Riquelme played with his right foot and passed the ball behind his other foot, thus dribbling past Dani Rodríguez and Pablo Maffeo until hooking a low right foot against the post, which beat goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic. The vermillions responded through the work of Antonio Raíllo, who headed a direct free kick into the area and the ball narrowly missed. Despite this, the game remained somewhat tight until reaching half an hour, when Mario Hermoso combined with Ángel Correa in a red and white attack. The center-back rode close to Rajkovic, made a wall with his teammate and hit a left-footed shot inside the area that went wide after hitting the corner of the goal on its outside side. Javier Aguirre’s pupils then tried, especially in search of their tall forward Vedat Muriqi. All of those balls pumped into the area were repelled, either by the defense or by goalkeeper Jan Oblak, who injured his back in one of the clearances, although ultimately without consequences. In fact, on the last dangerous chance before the break, Oblak caught an unorthodox shot from Muriqi with the top of his head. Upon returning from the locker room, Mallorca dominated possession, but without fangs. This was clear when Marcos Llorente in the 55th minute had another chance to score for Atlético, although his poor shot went over the crossbar. Diego Pablo Simeone’s men decided to temporize, something that gradually encouraged the locals. Cyle Larin came on to the pitch in the 62nd minute, replacing Abdón Prats, and began to bother the rival defenders. His was a right hand in the 79th minute that put Oblak in serious trouble, who cleared the ball off the post and sent the play for a corner. Another shot in the final stretch, this time in the boots of Javier Llabrés, also ended with the ball in the arms of Atlético’s Slovenian goalkeeper. The Madrid residents locked themselves in, trusting that their opponent’s lack of bite would not be a problem. Rajkovic even went up to finish off a corner in stoppage time, but there was no aim there either. The strategy went well for ‘Cholo’ Simeone, whose team reached 67 points thanks to this victory; Settled in fourth place, the colchoneros maintained the distance of six points with respect to Athletic Club, tenant of fifth place. Meanwhile, Mallorca continues with 32 points at the bottom of the table, just two positions above relegation. DATA SHEET. –RESULT: MALLORCA, 0 – ATLÉTICO DE MADRID, 1 (0-1, at half-time). –LINEUPS: MALLORCA: Rajkovic; Maffeo (Morlanes, min.62), Valjent (Radonjic, min.76), Raíllo, Nastasic, Lato; Mascarell (Llabrés, min.86), Darder, Dani Rodríguez (Gio González, min.76); Prats (Larin, min.62) and Muriqi. ATLÉTICO DE MADRID: Oblak; Azpilicueta (Reinildo, min.90+1), Witsel, Giménez, Hermoso (Molina, min.46; Savic, min.90), Riquelme; Llorente, Koke, Barrios, Lino (Morata, min.83); and Correa (De Paul, min.80). –GOAL: 0-1, min.5: Riquelme. –REFEREE: Alberola Rojas (C.Manchego). He yellow carded Raíllo (min.71) and Muriqi (min.75) for Mallorca. –STADIUM: Estadi Mallorca Son Moix, 20,519 spectators.
