Valencia 0-1 Atletico Madrid: Griezmann seals all 3 pts at the Mestalla Stadium

Valencia welcomed new signing Edinson Cavani to Mestalla with an ovation but were then beaten 1-0 by an Antoine Griezmann-inspired Atletico Madrid.

Griezmann tends to get little more than half an hour these days but that was all he needed to score his second of the season and win the game.

Atletico deny he is starting on the bench because if he plays a more than 45 minutes in 14 games this season they are bound by contract to sign him for 40m euros and give him two more years. But he has came on as a second half substitute in Atletico’s opening three matches.

Simeone brought on Griezmann and Thomas Lemar on 64 minutes and in 120 seconds they had combined to win the game for Atletico.

Lemar dispossessed Hugo Guillamon and fed Griezmann who has scored more goals against Valencia than any other La Liga side. From the edge of the area his shot clipped the hand of Carlos Soler and deflected past the wrong-footed Giorgi Mamardashvili to give Atletico the lead.

It was hard on Valencia and on their keeper whose saves in both halves helped keep Atletico at bay and keep the score at one late on. Valencia supporters will take some heart by the spirit shown by their team and by the arrival of Cavani, in the stadium to salute the fans. The 35-year-old Uruguayan striker got to his feet before kick-off to receive the applause of supporters.

The firs half was feisty. Referee Guillermo Cuadra Fernandez will have known to expect a busy night with a team coached by Simeone up against a team coached by Gennaro Gattuso – and sure enough by half time he needed a lie-down in a darkened room.

The tackles flew in from the first whistle and Saul Niguez and Marcos Andre were booked in the first 20 minutes. Then Simeone was booked for encroaching on the referee’s re-watching of what had looked like the first goal.

Former Arsenal midfielder Yunus Musah thundered the ball past Yan Oblak from distance but Cuadra was alerted to an earlier foul on Joao Felix by Mouctar Diakhaby and ruled out the goal.

Valencia went from thinking they were 1-0 up to thinking they were one man down. Thierry Correa fouled Morata and the referee interpreted him to have been the last man showing him red. Valencia players surrounded the official and he eventually downgraded the red to a yellow deciding that Morata had been running away from goal when he reviewed the incident pitch-side.

There were chances too as both sides looked dangerous in the final third. Mamardashvili saved well first from Felix and then from Morata with his feet before the break.

Griezmann’s knack of scoring against Valencia was their undoing in the end. Atletico’s strength in depth is such that they can just about justify leaving the World Cup winner out, especially when he scores from the bench has he has done now in two of Aletico’s opening three games.