Full-time! Atletico 0-0 Villarreal
And that’s the last act. What a stinker but it was always on the cards. Thanks for reading, apologies there was no excitement. Until next time, bye!
90 min +3: Adrian wins a corner off Savic for Villarreal. They are not exactly committing men forward for it.
90 min +1: A long ball from Filipe Luis is poked forward by Oliver to Vietto. He is marked tightly by Bailly, however, and his shot can only find the side netting.
90 min: No. Koke’s delivery is pants and Areola catches. There will be three minutes added on.
89 min: Filipe Luis wins the ball on the left, allowing Gabi to charge down the flank. Mario takes possession off him but Atletico have a throw in an attacking position. From that Rukavina wins a corner … is this it?
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87 min: The only consolation is that we have just a few minutes left.
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85 min: An attempt on target! The Torres combine again. Oliver finds Fernando, who turns before shooting straight into the hands of Areola.
84 min: Oliver hits an overly ambitious pass towards Koke that is halfway to Portugal by now.
83 min: There still has not been a shot on target in this half. There were two tame ones from range by Saul in the first.
81 min: Baptistao replaces Bakambu, whose highlight was that wayward shot.
79 min: Koke sends an outswinging cross in from the right. Torres is closest to it but he cannot connect and Areola saves.
76 min: Villarreal are three-on-three but take too much time. It allows Atletico time to recover and by the time Suarez has a shot, Juanfran is on hand to make a decent block tackle. Then Bailly is booked for taking down Vietto as Atletico counterattacked.
74 min: Filipe Luis is booked for obstructing Rukavina.
73 min: Barcelona must be watching this with a big smile on their face.
71 min: Areola punches a corner clear but only as far as Oliver. He shoots first time but it’s blocked and allows Villarreal to break. Oblak, who has not had a thing to do up until this point, is still awake and nips the ball of Suarez’s toes.
70 min: Bruno fouls Saul, who rolls around half a dozen times but picks himself up when he knows he has won a free-kick. The set piece directed to wards Godin amounts to zilch, which is maybe karma for Saul’s ludicrous overreaction.
70 min: Correa’s evening is over, replaced by Vietto, who used to play for Villarreal.
69 min: Gabi is booked for a foul on Pina.
68 min: The Torres’ combine. Almost. Oliver sends a cross towards Fernando but Areola is off his line quickly to catch the ball.
67 min: Castillejo, who has been decent for Villarreal, is replaced by Denis Suarez.
65 min: Saturday afternoon’s Madrid derby is going to be a battle for second place, isn’t it?
64 min: Villarreal make their first change, Adrian Lopez, who is on loan from Porto and has been out injured, comes on for Soldado against his former club.
63 min: A half chance for Villarreal as Bakambu races past Filipe Luis but shoots wide when slightly off balance.
63 min: Oliver Torres, from now until full-time known as Oliver for obvious reasons, is on for, surprisingly, Griezmann.
62 min: Castillejo becomes the first player to be booked for hacking down Correa.
60 min: Villarreal win a free-kick that is pumped into the box with every home player there. There is an ugly scramble before the danger is eventually hooked clear.
58 min: Atletico are upping the pressure and are monopolising possession since the start of the second half but Villarreal’s defence is so, so, resolute. They are not giving a single yard of space here. It’s admirable, if not scoring high on the aesthetic front.
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54 min: Koke delivers a corner, won by Torres, but it has too much on it and makes its way out to the left. Atletico work it back to the right, where Correa sends an impudent attempt goalwards. Areola is alert and makes the save.
53 min: Areola comes flying (almost literally) out to claim a Juanfran cross from the right.
50 min: Torres and Ruiz chase the ball. It should be a corner after the last touch comes off the man in yellow following Torres’ slide to keep the ball in. Instead a goal kick is given, to the disgust of some home fans behind the goal.
48 min: Griezmann plays a nice disguised pass to Koke on the left but his cross towards Torres lands on the roof of the net.
Restarted!
46 min: We are back underway. Atletico get us going again. It can only get better.
Half-time! Atlético 0-0 Villarreal
Excitement: nil.
45 min: Mario shoots into Row Z. Thankfully there will only be one minute of additional time
43 min: The best chance of the game so far. Juanfran dispatches an exquisite cross from the right towards Griezmann. The France player misjudges his header though and glances it across goal and wide.
42 min: Koke hits a preposterous, pointless long-range right-footed effort that is actually not too far away. It hits the side-netting
40 min: Areola is quick to come off his line to claim a long diagonal ball from Koke towards Torres. Mario is ready to come back on.
39 min: A break in play as Mario receives treatment after coming off worse from a 50-50 with Koke. He eventually hobbles off but then lies back down to receive more treatment. Villarreal are temporarily down to 10 men.
36 min: Saul sends another tame shot into Areola but that’s the second shot on goal. Amazing scenes! Just a pity both have come from a player who appears unable to put any zip on his strikes.
35 min: Then Griezmann wins a corner, his shot deflected wide by Ruiz. The game is opening up, though the set piece does not lead to an opportunity.
35 min: Juanfran tries to pick out Torres with a cross from the right but the former Liverpool player is unable to get his noggin on the ball and Villarreal clear.
33 min: Torres charges forward but loses control, Bailly intercepts and is then fouled by the frustrated Atletico striker.
32 min: Villarreal win a corner. Castillejo floats it in. It evades several players before Bonera snatches at the ball and whacks over.
An email! From Charles Antaki
Griezmann has just done a wonderful impersonation of a performing seal - a one-touch keep-uppy on his head, then a flipper-poke away for a goal kick. He managed to look utterly distraught at the injustice of it all, which is presumably why big clubs want him and not the seal, apparently.
It was dreadful.
30 min: Filipe Luis sends a cross from the left towards Torres. It’s overhit and Bailly clears. And then Soldado is brought down by a Juanfran slider. It was clumsy rather than dirty. A free kick and nothing more.
29 min: Savic slides in to take the ball off Soldado who was breaking (slowly) forward. Simeone applauds it as if it was a goal. It was, to be fair, a terrific tackle.
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28 min: Griezmann reaches a good position in the area but loses control (thinking about what was for tea, perhaps?) and the ball trickles out for a goal kick.
27 min: Fernando Torres has morphed into an Andy Carroll-like targetman, minus the effectiveness. There have been an awful lot of long balls sent in his direction, none leading to an opportunity.
26 min: Villarreal have their first attempt and it’s dreadful. Rukavina shoots high and wide from range after Castillejo passed to him.
23 min: Juanfran sends a cross from the right towards Koke but it is cleared to Saul. He takes a touch to control before hitting a pitifully meek shot (it should not even be considered that such was the weakness with which it was struck) that is easily saved by Areola.
22 min: And that off target attempt was a long-range effort that went well wide.
21 min: Almost a quarter of the way in and we have had one shot off target, none yet on target. If bitty midfield play is your thing, then this is the game for you. If attacking is, then I suggest you watch a goals compilation on YouTube.
18 min: Castillejo feeds Bakambu on the left but he is whistled at for a foul on Juanfran near the goalline.
17 min: Griezmann is penalised for climbing on top of Castillejo while challenging for a header. Seconds later Griezmann is clattered from behind by Bailly, who screams. The referee warns the Villarreal defender but does not show him a card.
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14 min: Early days and all but this has been very dull so far.
11 min: Atletico are enjoying plenty of the ball now but are met by two banks of bright yellow. A lengthy spell of passing sideways concludes when Koke puts too much fizz on a cross from the right.
9 min: The game’s first half chance sees Saul drive high and wide off his right after Bailly misdirected a clearance into his path. Goal kick.
7 min: No clear pattern has developed in this one yet. Both sides are quite compact, there is not much width and while intensity is high, space is hard to come by.
5 min: It is taken short by Koke to Correa, who then crosses and wins another corner. The second delivery is straight towards the area, where Bailly heads away.
4 min: Atleti win a corner. Griezmann finds Torres, who turns into trouble but wins the set piece.
2 min: Castillejo hits the floor inside the box after a challenge from Saul that looks mildly reckless. The referee waves play on.
2 min: The last four games between these two has ended up 1-0. Brace yourselves!
Kick-off!
1 min: We are underway. Villarreal centre, in all yellow, playing from right to left as we watch. Atletico in red and white.
The teams are out. We are moments away from kick-off!
Meanwhile, in Turkey
De rode kaart voor de scheids en spelers. Nog nooit meegemaakt. pic.twitter.com/JPnEzitAKT
— Yordi (@TheFev) February 21, 2016
Villarreal are one of only three teams to beat Atlético, winning the reverse fixture 1-0. They also have the second meanest defence behind Diego Simeone’s team.
Gary Neville’s Valencia have won 2-1 at Granada but it was far from straightforward.
The teams
Atlético: Oblak; Juanfran, Godin, Savic, Filipe Luis; Gabi, Saul, Koke; Crrea, Griezmann, Torres. Subs: Moya, Gamez, Lucas, Kranevitter, Oliver, Villa, Vietto.
Villarreal: Areola; Mario, Bonera, Ruiz, Rukavina, Bailly; Castillejo, Bruno, Pina; Soldado, Bakambu. Subs: Barbosa, Musacchio, Marin, Trigueros, Suarez, Baptistao, Adrian.
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Preamble
Hello. So Real Madrid were quite fortunate to take a point from an impressive Malaga earlier, which has knocked their neighbours down to third (momentarily at least). Atlético have won their last two games after losing to Barcelona three weeks ago and could really do with another victory to keep up the pressure on the league leaders. Villarreal will by no means be a walkover, though. They sit in fourth and have not been defeated in 12 league games. It should make for a belting game … that will probably end up with a 1-0 win. Kick-off is 8.30pm local time, 7.30pm GMT. Team news will be along soon.
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