Elche 3-2 Atletico: Hosts earn crucial 3 points as Almada is sent off

Andre Silva scored a brace to secure Elche a huge 3-2 victory over 10-man Atletico Madrid, moving them out of the relegation zone in LaLiga.

Match Report

Atletico were aiming to bounce back from their Copa del Rey final defeat to Real Sociedad but instead suffered a fourth straight league defeat – despite taking the lead.

It started so well at Estadio Manuel Martinez Valero as Nico Gonzalez led a pacy counter-attack before playing a one-two with Rodrigo Mendoza to stab in the opener inside 10 minutes.

But Elche were back on level terms just eight minutes later when Atletico failed to clear a corner and David Affengruber stretched to poke home Tete Morente's nod down.

Things went from bad to worse for the visitors on the half-hour mark. Thiago Almada was dispossessed on the edge of his own box, and he then tugged back Affengruber inside the area, resulting in a penalty and a red card for denying a goalscoring opportunity.

Silva comfortably dispatched the subsequent spot-kick, but Atletico pulled back level immediately. Gonzalez brilliantly raced to the right byline, lifted the ball over Matias Dituro and nodded it in, with Affengruber unable to clear before it fully crossed the line.

Alex Baena saw a third Atletico goal disallowed for offside shortly after the break, and Elche upped the pressure after that, with Silva calmly guiding them back into the lead 75 minutes in, and they held on for all three points.

Data Debrief: Silva lights up Elche

Silva had not scored a brace in LaLiga since September 2018 for Sevilla against Real Madrid, but he scored a potentially pivotal double for Elche in the relegation battle.

The forward had a joint-game-high three shots, with all of them hitting the target, while he also had five touches in the opposition box.

There was little doubt that Elche were deserved winners against their 10-man visitors, finishing the game with 2.67 expected goals (xG) from 14 attempts, with Atletico only mustering 1.01 xG from six shots at the other end.

Gonzalez has scored two braces in his last five matches with Atletico in LaLiga, one more than in his entire previous career in Europe's five major leagues (one in 177 appearances), but it did little to end their losing streak.

Match Events

10' GOAL! Elche 0-1 Atletico (Nico González)

18' GOAL! Elche 1-1 Atletico (David Affengruber)

33' Penalty Goal! Elche 2-1 Atletico (André Silva)

36' GOAL! Elche 2-2 Atletico (Nico González)

75' GOAL! Elche 3-2 Atletico (André Silva)

Line-ups

Elche XI: Matías Dituro, Andre Silva, Aleix Febas, Tete Morente, Léo Pétrot, Gonzalo Villar, Rafa Mir, Germán Valera, David Affengruber, Martim Neto, Buba Sangaré

Subs: Bigas, Josan, Pena, Pedrosa, Víctor Chust, John Donald, Alejandro Iturbe, Álvaro Rodríguez, Lucas Cepeda, Yago Santiago, Federico Redondo, Héctor Fort

Atletico XI: Oblak, Lenglet, Le Normand, N. Gonzalez, Álex Baena, Thiago Almada, Johnny Cardoso, Javier Boñar, Rodrigo Mendoza, Obed Vargas, Julio Díaz

Subs: Griezmann, Musso, Molina, Marc Pubill, Giuliano Simeone, Barrios, Rayane Belaid, Dani Martinez, Aleksa Puric, Iker Luque, Javi Morcillo, Miguel Cubo