With Barcelona's loss earlier today, Atletico Madrid knew they had to take advantage of their situation and they did just that. They defeated Almeria by a score of 3-0 with goals coming from Mario Mandzukic and Antoine Griezmann.
The first half of the match was controlled by Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid with them pressuring the visitors early and often. Within the first two minutes of the match, Antoine Griezmann hit a shot from the arc at the top of the box that curled just wide to the left of the goal. Almeria’s best chance of the half came shortly after that as Corona’s corner was met by Trujillo, but his header was looped well over the top of the goal.
A soft penalty was called in the 13th minute of the match as Diego Godin leaped in the air and was fouled going up. Mario Mandzukic stepped up to the spot and sent Julián the wrong way. Nevertheless, Atletico deserved their lead and continued to go on the attack throughout the opening 45 minutes.
Their second goal of the match would come just seven minutes later as Antoine Griezmann would get on the score sheet. Mandzukic would get on the end of the cross, but it was headed down softly and looked like the Almeria goalkeeper would save it easily. However, the Frenchman would make a run to collect the ball inside the six yard box. As he was running away from goal, he turned and took a shot that found the back of the net.
The Croatian international striker, Mandzukic, and Griezmann combined once again to give Atletico their third goal within the first 30 minutes of the match. Almeria’s Fran Velez gave the ball away easily, and straight to the first goal scorer. He played a quick pass to Griezmann as he found himself in acres of space. Griezmann continued his run and placed the ball perfectly into the bottom left corner of the goal, completing his brace.
Almeria looked more comfortabel in teh second half of play, however, they did not produce many chances throughout the second half of play. It seemed as though Atletico stepped off of the gas pedal a bit as they were saving energy for Wednesday's Champions League match.