It was a chastening afternoon for Atletico.
Atletico Madrid fell back down to earth with a huge bump as they were stunned 3-0 by Rayo Vallecano, three days on from thrashing Barcelona 4-0 in the Copa del Rey.
Diego Simeone’s men have one foot in the Copa final following their emphatic victory in the first leg of semi-final tie, but their exertions in that game looked to have caught up with them as they slumped to a heavy defeat at Vallecas.
Fran Perez, Oscar Valentin and Nobel Mendy were on target for Rayo as they climbed out of the relegation places in style.
The inquest began in earnest for fourth-placed Atletico, with goalkeeper Jan Oblak issuing a pointed critique in his post-match interview.
“There’s no explanation, you can’t choose which games to play, you have to play them all to win,” Oblak said. “We went out there to play to win, but our minds aren’t in the right place to win games in a row, there’s no other explanation.”
Simeone, though, disagreed with Oblak’s assessment.
“I don’t agree with what Oblak said,” said Simeone. “The team doesn’t pick and choose games, they competed poorly and when the opponent plays better, they’re superior and they beat you.
“There’s no need to explain. The opponent was simply better. We tried to create several plays on the right side where we were able to make good progress, but we couldn’t find a way to score, and they were decisive, pressed well, didn’t give us time to think, and played a good game, while we couldn’t play the game we wanted to play.”
Atletico are only four points clear of fifth-placed Real Betis in the race for Champions League qualifiction, Manuel Pellegrini’s side taking advantage of the Rojiblancos’ slip-up with a 2-1 win at Mallorca.
The goal of the day in Spain, though, was scored by Largie Ramazani, whose stunning volley at the end of a free-flowing team move saw Valencia take the lead in their 2-0 win at Levante. The win moved Valencia two points clear of third-bottom Mallorca. Elsewhere, Athletic Bilbao beat bottom club Real Oviedo 2-1.
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Alisson to the rescue for Napoli
In Serie A, Alisson Santos salvaged a point for Napoli in a hugely entertaining 2-2 draw with Roma.
Roma twice led through Donyell Malen, the former Aston Villa man restoring their advantage from the penalty spot after his opener had been cancelled out by a deflected long-range strike from Leonardo Spinazzola.
But there was another twist in the tale when Alisson rifled into the bottom-left corner eight minutes from time. Defending champions Napoli are third, 11 points behind leaders Inter, with Roma missing the chance to leapfrog them in the table and put breathing room between them and fifth-placed Juventus. Roma are a point ahead of the Bianconeri in fourth.
Other Serie A results: Udinese 1-2 Sassuolo, Cremonese 0-0 Genoa, Parma 2-1 Verona, Torino 1-2 Bologna
Lyon cement grip on third
Lyon are in an excellent position to return to the Champions League stage after they beat Nice 2-0.
Corentin Tolisso and Noah Nartey were on target for Les Gones as they solidified their grip on third place, moving five points clear of Marseille in fourth.
Auxerre boosted their hopes of safety with a 3-1 win at bottom club Metz, while there were wins for Lorient and Le Havre over Angers and Toulouse respectively.
In the Bundesliga, Brajan Gruda scored an 89th-minute equaliser as Champions League-chasing RB Leipzig twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with struggling Wolfsburg. Leipzig are fifth, two points behind fourth-placed Stuttgart. The day’s other game saw Augsburg beat bottom club Heidenheim to continue their recent upturn in form.
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