Diego Simeone’s men triumphed over city rivals Real Madrid with a 4-0 victory in the Week 22 La Liga clash at the Estadio Vicente Calderon on Saturday.
Real enjoyed the better of possession in the early stages, but it was the ‘Los Colchoneros’ who were more enterprising and it didn’t take long before their efforts yielded dividends.
Atletico’s opening goal came in the 14th minute via a brilliant cross from Juanfran inside the box and Mandzukic eventually collects before teeing up for Tiago, who drilled a shot under Iker Casillas from the edge of the box to give Simeone’s men the lead.
The hosts doubled their lead after Guilherme Siquera made a marauding run into the box and hit the byline before chipping a pullout to the front post and substitute Saul Niguez sends the ball into the net with a well-executed bicycle kick.
The first stanza of the game came to an end with a 2-0 nil lead for Atletico and Real were bruised by the no-nonsense attitude of their opponents.
Real’s efforts to reduce the deficit in the second stanza didn’t yield any result and Atletico nearly increased the lead through Tiago and Griezmann respectively.
Atletico signed and sealed the victory when Arda Turan cut in from the right wing totally unopposed in the 67th minute and delivered a cross to the back post for Saul. The substitute nodded a perfect cut back across goal and Griezmann was on hand to smash the ball home from close range.
Mandzukic put the icing on the cake in the 89thminute with a well-placed header that beat Casillas, via a excellent delivery from Fernando Torres further increase the scores to 4-0.
Real’s BBC trio of Bale, Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t have any answer to the blitz from Atletico, and as it stands they didn’t record any victory in all fixtures against their city rivals this season.
Centre referee David Fernandez Borbalan brought match proceedings to an end and it was Simeone and his troops who smiled home with all the maximum points available.