Atletico close in on La Liga crown after tight Valencia victory

Andy West 10:56 28/04/2014
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  • Champions-in-waiting: Raul Garcia’s goal means Atletico require two more wins.

    Atletico Madrid are just two wins away from securing a sensational La Liga title triumph after battling to a precious 1-0 victory over Valencia at the Vicente Calderon. 

    With an away trip to Levante and a home meeting with Malaga lying ahead, Atletico’s superior head to head record over nearest challengers Real Madrid could see them tie up the title before their final day trip to Barcelona.

    Sunday’s victory came courtesy of a first half strike from Raul Garcia, with Atletico’s fabulous defence doing the rest of the job to secure their sixth consecutive clean sheet and three valuable points.

    Manager Diego Simeone refused to accept the suggestion that his team are now close to becoming champions, saying: “Trying to foresee the next two games would not be good. We are battling against two powerful teams [Real Madrid and Barcelona] and we cannot relax.”

    In truth, Atletico could have won by a bigger margin after leading scorer Diego Costa squandered two excellent opportunities following Garcia’s first-half opener, which came via a glancing header after the midfielder ran onto an angled cross from captain Gabi.

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    There had been few opportunities before that moment, although David Villa came close with a scorching long-range strike.

    Valencia rarely seriously threatened an equaliser, with Atletico left back Filipe Luis making a good block from Jonas’ header in the home team’s most threatening attack.

    Costa’s first chance to give his team a cushion came when he broke the offside trap to run onto a through ball from Luis, but he took too long over his shot and Valencia keeper Vicente Guiata was able to block his tentative shot.

    Valencia briefly rallied with a period of sustained pressure, culminating in Sofiane Feghouli sending a volley narrowly wide across the face of goal and Paco Alcacer curling a chance over the bar, but Atletico keeper Thibaut Courtois was never seriously tested.

    Guiata again came to his team’s rescue inside the final ten minutes. This time Jose Sosa was the provider, splitting the home defence with an astute pass, but Costa was again denied as he attempted to round Guiata and shoot into an empty net.

    The only negative for Atletico came in stoppage time, when rightback Juanfran stopped a dangerous burst by Valencia winger Pablo Piatti in its tracks with a cynical foul, earning a red card which will rule him out of next weekend’s trip to Levante.

    But that did little to deter the raucous celebrations of the travelling fans, who are still pinching themselves at the prospect of their team claiming their first La Liga title since 1996.

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