Goals from Saul Niguez and Ardra Turan gave Atletico Madrid a 2-0 victory over Deportivo La Coruna and sent them into 2nd position in the La Liga table.

Atletico dominated from the first whistle with Mario Mandzukic coming close to giving his side the lead before Niguez headed it in just before the break, Turan then doubled their lead in 54th minute with a volley they continued to trouble the Deportivo goal but couldn’t find a third but Diego Simeone’s side had already done enough for the three points.

There were doubts if the match would even be played before a ball was kicked after the tragic death of a Deportivo fan but the game went ahead as planned, Mandzukic came ever so close to giving his side the lead only 9 minutes in when he got his head on Koke’s cross but it came back off the right post.

Despite their early flourish Atletico failed to really trouble their opponents until they took the lead in the 42nd minute, the costless-kick was whipped into the area and was headed on by Mandzukic towards the back post and Niguez was quick enough to head it in.

Niguez could have had his second after the break when his shot was deflected and lopped just over the bar, Madrid got their second goal of the afternoon from that resulting corner with ball being headed out to Turan who hit a low volley into the bottom corner.

Niguez was causing havoc for the Deportivo defence when he headed the ball goal wards from Turan’s cross but Fabricio Agosto Ramirez did well to catch it. Raul Jimenez did well to create some space to take the shot but striker dragged it wide of target.

The last real opportunity of the match came ten minutes from the end when substitute Cristian Rodriguez collected the ball on the edge of the area but he put his effort just wide of the left-hand post.

This wasn’t a classic display from Simeone’s side but they still managed to get the points giving them their 10th victory in 12 games and very much keeping the pressure on Barcelona and their city rivals Real. It was poor display Deportivo who never really brought to the game and their relegation fears will continue to trouble them. 

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Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.