Villarreal 5-1 Atletico: Perez takes centre-stage on Griezmann's farewell

Antoine Griezmann's final game for Atletico Madrid ended in a crushing defeat as Ayoze Perez starred for Villarreal, who cruised to a stunning 5-1 win on Sunday. 

Match Report 

Perez grabbed two goals along with an assist in a match that saw five goals scored in a frenetic first half, with Villarreal boss Marcelino bowing out in some style, too. 

A lively opening at the Estadio de la Ceramica got its first goal in the 30th minute when Nicolas Pepe was taken down in the box by Juan Musso, with Dani Parejo stepping up to send the Atletico goalkeeper the wrong way from the resulting penalty, on what was also his farewell appearance. 

It got even better for Villarreal four minutes later after Alfonso Pedraza stole possession from Marcos Llorente. His cross was cleared by David Hancko but only as far as Perez, who rifled the ball into the net. 

Villarreal pulled further clear five minutes before the break when a long punt over the top sent Perez on his way, with the Spaniard cutting the ball back for Georges Mikautadze, who made his way around Clement Lenglet to score. 

Marc Pubill pulled one back before the break when he nodded Griezmann's inviting corner home, but the hosts restored their three-goal cushion on the stroke of half-time through Pape Gueye's stunning strike from the edge of the box. 

And Perez made it five for Villarreal nine minutes after the restart, drilling into the bottom-left corner after taking in Pepe's deflected pass as Villarreal clinched third place ahead of Atleti.

Data Debrief: Atletico pay first-half penalty

Atletico could not help provide Greizmann with a winning send-off before he departs for Orlando City SC, and the manner in which they crumbled to defeat will frustrate Diego Simeone, especially after their first-half showing. 

For the first time in all competitions under Simeone's stewardship, which has spanned 800 matches, Atletico conceded four times in the first half of a match, and they fell behind in familiar fashion with Musso in between the sticks. 

Atletico's second-choice keeper has now conceded three penalties across all competitions this season, the joint-most of any goalkeeper across Europe's top five leagues (level with Brentford's Caoimhin Kelleher), and a record for an Atletico shot-stopper in the Simeone era. 

But for Villarreal, they finished in the top three of LaLiga for the first time since 2007-08 and the third time overall, and they were deserving of their win.

They finished with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.45 from 14 shots, to Atletico's 1.16 from nine attempts. 

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

3' Highlight from Villarreal vs Atletico

25' Highlight from Villarreal vs Atletico

29' Penalty Goal! Villarreal 1-0 Atletico (Dani Parejo)

34' GOAL! Villarreal 2-0 Atletico (Ayoze Pérez)

40' GOAL! Villarreal 3-0 Atletico (Georges Mikautadze)

43' GOAL! Villarreal 3-1 Atletico (Marc Pubill)

45' GOAL! Villarreal 4-1 Atletico (Pape Gueye)

46' Highlight from Villarreal vs Atletico

54' GOAL! Villarreal 5-1 Atletico (Ayoze Pérez)

66' Highlight from Villarreal vs Atletico

Line-ups

Villarreal XI: Parejo, Ayoze Perez, Pepe, Pedraza, Pape Gueye, Arnau Tenas, Rafa Marín, Georges Mikautadze, Alberto Moleiro, Pau Navarro, Santiago Mouriño

Subs: Alfon González, Logan Costa, Sergi Cardona, Buchanan, Luiz Júnior, Willy Kambwala, Alex Freeman, Tani Oluwaseyi, Renato Veiga, Pau Cabanes, Alassane Diatta, Carlos Macià

Atletico XI: Griezmann, Koke, Lenglet, Musso, Llorente, Dávid Hancko, Lookman, Álex Baena, Marc Pubill, Giuliano Simeone, Obed Vargas

Subs: Oblak, Sørloth, Matteo Ruggeri, Javier Boñar, Salvi Esquivel, Rayane Belaid, Julio Díaz, Aleksa Puric, Iker Luque, Javi Morcillo, Miguel Cubo