HUESCA (Reuters) - Atletico Madrid eased the pain of their midweek Copa del Rey exit to Girona by strolling to a 3-0 win at basement club Huesca on Saturday, moving to within two points of La Liga leaders Barcelona.
France defender Lucas Hernandez scored in his first league appearance for over a month, and the first since reports of a possible move to Bayern Munich appeared, to put Atletico ahead in thick fog at Huesca's El Alcoraz stadium in the 31st minute.
Bottom-of-the-table Huesca had come close to opening the scoring when Jorge Pulido struck the post with a bicycle kick. However, Atletico tightened their grip on the game early in the second half as Colombian right back Santiago Arias volleyed in a chipped pass from Antoine Griezmann.
Griezmann came close to netting for the seventh game in a row when he headed against the crossbar, but his team mate Koke pounced on the rebound to match the 3-0 scoreline Atletico won by when the two teams met earlier in the season.
Atletico are second in the standings on 41 points, two behind leaders Barcelona who host Leganes on Sunday.
(Reporting by Richard Martin; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
