Madrid: Atletico
Madrid hammered Osasuna 5-0 away from home in La Liga on Wednesday to secure their
biggest win of the season and give a huge boost to their chances of qualifying
for the Champions League.
Atleti's record signing Joao Felix put the visiting side ahead by arriving in the box and drilling the loose ball into the top corner in the 27th minute, scoring again soon after the re-start by nudging home a fine pass from Diego Costa.
Substitute Marcos Llorente stretched Atleti's lead in the 79th and laid on passes for Alvaro Morata and Yannick Carrasco to complete the drubbing.
The victory took Diego Simeone's side into fourth place in the standings on 49 points after 29 games, two ahead of fifth-placed Real Sociedad who visit Alaves on Thursday. Osasuna are 11th on 35.
"We have a brilliant squad and if we can keep performing like we did today we can go as far as we want to," said the Atletico coach.
Atletico had a subdued return to action after Spanish football's three-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic by drawing 1-1 at Athletic Bilbao.
Video technology played a key role as Eibar drew 2-2 at home with Athletic Bilbao in a La Liga Basque derby played behind closed doors on Wednesday.
Athletic went ahead in the eighth minute when Raul Garcia scored a penalty awarded after the referee went to the pitch-side monitor and spotted that home defender Gonzalo Escalante had blocked a shot with his hand.
Eibar forward Kike Garcia equalised in the 19th minute and the home side went in front with a spot-kick from Fabian Orellana in the 78th after the referee again consulted the monitor and saw Dani Garcia had hauled down Escalante while contesting a corner.
Dani Garcia quickly made amends, however, by sending in a cross for substitute Asier Villalibre to equalise with his first touch in the 81st minute.
Athletic are 10th in the standings on 39 points from 29 games while Eibar are 16th on 28.
Elsewhere, Celta Vigo drew 0-0 at Real Valladolid as their talisman Iago Aspas had penalty saved by Valladolid's Jordi Masip in the second half. The draw left Celta hovering above the relegation zone in 17th place on 27 points. Valladolid are 14th on 33. Agencies