Atletico Madrid fought hard for a 1-0 win against Athletic Club in LaLiga Santander on Saturday night.
Antoine Griezmann’s strike at the start of the second half proving enough.
Ivo Grbic also contributed after coming on for an injured Jan Oblak, earning three crucial points for Los Rojiblancos.
There was some controversy early on in the first half, as Alvaro Morata latched on to a long ball forward in the 10th minute and, after shrugging off Yeray Alvarez, rounded Unai Simon and finished. However, VAR deemed Morata’s jostle with the centre-back as a foul, ruling out the goal.
From there, the rest of the first half was a back-and-forth affair, but without any clear-cut chances for either side.After a pause to the start of the second half while the San Mames staff fixed the goal net behind Unai Simon, Griezmann then tested that net by finishing off an Alvaro Morata cross just two minutes into the second half, his 13th goal against the team from Bilbao.
Although the Basque side then put the pressure on in search of an equaliser, the next big chance was for Griezmann, but he couldn’t double his tally as he hit a volley into the ground and over the bar.
Atletico then suffered a huge blow as Oblak had to go off with an injury, but his replacement Grbic stretched well against Raul Garcia and against Inigo Martinez in the closing stages to maintain the advantage.
A penalty was awarded to Athletic Club in the last minute of the 90, but VAR then overruled that decision since it hadn’t actually struck Reinildo on the arm.
That allowed Diego Simeone’s side to hold on for a much-needed victory.
