Luis Suarez’s penalty sent Atletico Madrid six points clear at the top of La Liga on Wednesday as the leaders survived a scare to beat a re...
Luis Suarez’s penalty sent Atletico Madrid six points clear at the top of La Liga on Wednesday as the leaders survived a scare to beat a resurgent Athletic Bilbao 2-1.
Atletico conceded late to draw with Real Madrid on Sunday, a result that kept their opponents in the title race and allowed Barcelona to move just three points behind.
But Diego Simeone’s side made full use of their last game in hand, with Marcos Llorente’s header and a Suarez spot-kick overturning Iker Muniain’s opener for Bilbao, who had dominated the first half.
Suarez and Llorente have been the driving forces behind Atletico’s charge this term and so it proved again at the Wanda Metropolitano, with Suarez scoring his 18th league goal of the season, after Llorente had nodded in his ninth.
“For a year now Marcos has exemplified the word effort,” said Simeone. “He arrived at the club, he wasn’t in the team, not even on the bench, but he kept training and making the effort to get to where he wanted to get to and he managed it.”
Victory also puts Atleti eight points clear of Real Madrid and while Atletico still have to play at Barcelona in May, a Clasico next month at the Santiago Bernabeu complicates matters...
