Morata Off the Mark as Atletico Sail Past Villarreal News

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Morata Off the Mark as Atletico Sail Past Villarreal

By Daily Sports on February 25, 2019

Alvaro Morata poked fun at VAR after scoring his first goal for Atletico Madrid on Sunday as Barcelona’s closest challengers kept up the chase with a 2-0 win over Villarreal.

Since joining Atletico on loan from Chelsea last month, Morata has twice had goals ruled out by VAR so when this one finally stood at the Wanda Metropolitano, he celebrated by imitating a referee putting a finger to his ear.

“At last it came, and with a victory too, so I’m going home happy today,” Morata said. “Until I saw all the officials in the stadium had given the goal, I didn't want to celebrate too much.”

Saul Niguez added a late second for Atletico, whose victory means they reduce the gap behind Barca to seven points at the top of La Liga. Real Madrid, now five behind their city rivals, play Levante later on Sunday.

Morata’s first league goal in almost four months was a deserved reward for another lively performance, which followed up his excellent display off the bench in the midweek win over Juventus.

After having one headed goal ruled out, Morata teed up Jose Gimenez’s opener against Juve and his contribution was enough to earn him a start ahead of Diego Costa, who replaced his fellow Spaniard in the second half.

The pair’s jostle for the position as partner-in-chief to Antoine Griezmann looks set to give Diego Simeone a headache in the coming weeks but Atleti’s coach will be relieved that momentum has been sustained after such a memorable night in the Champions League.

“There was an emotional weight after Wednesday,” Simeone said. “They had an early chance but we found our rhythm and Morata got the goal. That makes us very happy.” (SuperSport)

•Photo shows Alvaro Morata

Source Daily Sports

Posted February 25, 2019