Atletico Madrid too good for Real Sociedad

Atletico Madrid closed the gap on La Liga leaders Barcelona to five points with a routine 3-0 win over Real Sociedad on Tuesday.

A bright start from the hosts was rewarded when Diego Reyes turned Koke’s low cross into his own net after just eight minutes.

Saul Niguez’s acrobatic volley doubled Atletico’s advantage a minute into the second-half before Antoine Griezmann’s penalty rounded off the scoring.

Barca can restore their eight-point lead when they travel to Rayo Vallecano on Thursday looking to set a Spanish football record by stretching their unbeaten run to 35 games.

“We started the game very well from middle to front which opened up the game for us,” said Atletico boss Diego Simeone.

“It is very difficult to imagine Barcelona losing games. We are concentrating on ourselves and bettering our own standards.”

Buoyed by coming out on top against Real in the capital city derby on Saturday, Atletico started full of confidence and should have killed the game off before half-time.

The opener arrived when Koke’s dangerous low cross from the right caused confusion between Reyes and Geronimo Rulli and the Mexican defender shanked the ball into his own net.

Diego Godin should have made it 2-0 moments later when he blasted over Jose Maria Gimenez’s flick-on from Koke’s corner.

Rulli then redeemed himself with smart saves from Griezmann and Luciano Vietto.

With the first attack of the second half Atletico scored the second goal as Vietto’s cross picked out Saul and his bicycle-kick had too much power for Rulli.