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| Atletico Madrid's French forward Antoine Griezmann (C) celebrates scoring the opening goal with Atletico Madrid's Spanish midfielder Koke (R) and Atletico Madrid's Spanish forward Alvaro Morata during the Spanish league football match between Club Atletico de Madrid and Cadiz CF at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium in Madrid on May 3, 2023. |
Atletico Madrid have continued their winning form by routing Cadiz 5-1 and overtaking Real Madrid for second place in Spain’s La Liga.
Antoine Griezmann scored twice in the first half on Wednesday and Alvaro Morata, Yannick Carrasco and Nahuel Molina each added a goal in the second to give Atletico their 12th win in 14 league matches. Diego Simeone’s team moved a point in front of their city rivals with five rounds remaining.
It is the first time this season Atletico went second in the standings, which is particularly important because it guarantees a spot in the lucrative Spanish Super Cup.
Madrid, who lost 2-0 at Real Sociedad on Tuesday, had been in the top two since the early rounds and are now focused on Saturday’s Copa del Rey final against Osasuna and the Champions League semi-final against Manchester City.
Atletico would still make it to the Super Cup by finishing third behind Madrid, though, who earned their spot for the tournament in Saudi Arabia by reaching the Copa final. They wouldn’t make it if they finished third behind another team.
Atletico are 13 points behind leaders Barcelona, who have the chance to clinch their first league title in four years in the next round.
“We have to enjoy this moment,” Griezmann said.
“We can’t think about what happened in the past. We have to look to what is ahead of us and try to finish as high as possible.”
Griezmann scored in the second and 27th minutes. Morata got on the board in the 49th, Carrasco in the 57th and Molina in the 73rd at the Metropolitano stadium.
Anthony Lozano scored in the 72nd for Cadiz, who dropped to 15th place and only one point above the relegation zone.
Elsewhere, Valencia, coming off a loss at Cadiz, were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Villarreal to remain in trouble.
They are 17th with 34 points, the same as 18th-place Getafe in the first drop position. Espanyol, who visit Sevilla on Thursday, are three points behind in 19th. Last-placed Elche were mathematically relegated after a 2-1 loss at Almeria on Tuesday.
Getafe kept alive their chances of escaping demotion with a 1-0 home victory against Celta Vigo.
