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| Villa celebrates with teammates after his goal |
David Villa 27’
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Xabi Prieto 69’
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Koke 56’
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David Villa gave his new team the lead in the battle of undefeated teams after he capitalized on the mistake of Jon Ansotegi to lift Atletico Madrid over Real Sociedad in the 27th minute of the game in the third round of the La Liga 2013-2014 season. David Villa figured in an exchange with Diego Costa when he was was able to squeeze himself past David Zurutuza and Jon Ansotegi. Ansotegi's tackle however caught David Villa's foot and paid the price as it afford Villa space to tap in the ball past the rushing goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.
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| Jon Ansotegi |
Both teams displayed excellent plays dominated by counter attacks. In the 34th minute, Diego Costa latched on to the long ball from the back fell short as Ansotegi atoned for his earlier blunder and cleared the ball for Sociedad.
Real Sociedad made its own version in the 53rd minute as Antoine Greizmanns breakaway was cleared by Thibaut Courtouis.
Atletico Madrid upped their lead in the 56th minute. The play began with Diego Costa running down the middle and who passed it to Arda Turan on the left. Turan backheeled the ball to David Villa, who run deep into the left and fired a cross which finds its way to unmarked Koke who send it home.
Despite having advantage in pace, Real Sociedad's forward failed to make headway in most parts of the games as their attacks were constantly foiled by Atletico's alert defense.
Real Sociedad's break came in unexpected turn of events as it outsmarted the Atletico defense in the 69th minute. The play was momentarily stopped as Diego Godin's push dropped Carlos Vela. As the referee whistled for the resumption of the game, substitute Esteban Granero made a quick pass to Xabi Prieto which caught the Atletico defense by surprise. There is nothing much that Thibaut Courtouis could do as Xabi Prieto slammed the strike into the goal.
Atletico Madrid almost took away that Real Sociedad goal when Arda Turan, Diego Costa and David Villa conspired a promising buildup. As Turan nears the penalty box, he squared the ball to the right to the out of place Diego Costa enabling the Sociedad defense to steal possession. Had Turan look to his left, an open David Villa could have scored Atletico's third goal. Atletico Madrid continued its unrelenting forays into the Sociedad goal with attempts Arda Turan and Raul Garcia were both stopped by Claudio Bravo.
The aggressive offense is not a monopoly of Atletico either. Real Sociedad tried its best to score the equalizer. In the 89th minute, Liassine Cadamuro lets loose a long pass to the middle of the penalty box which barely grazed the head of Antoine Greizmann. However Esteban Granero was there to collect the miss and fired a close range shot but the alert Thibaut Courtouis made an excellent block to deny Sociedad its game tying score. Sociedad had the opportunity again when in the 90th minute, Cadamuro's pass bounced from Carlos Vera which landed on Ruben Prado. Prado unleashed a powerful volley but Courtouis saved the shot with a top hand save.
The scoring ended is capped by a spot kick by Gabi which was cleared with a high diving save by Claudio Bravo.
