Soccer Football - La Liga Santander - Atletico Madrid vs Valencia - Wanda Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain - February 4, 2018 Atletico Madrid's Angel Correa in action REUTERS/Susana Vera
BARCELONA (Reuters) - Angel Correa's thunderbolt earned Atletico Madrid a 1-0 win over Valencia on Sunday, helping them to close the gap on Barcelona to nine points at the top of La Liga.
In a predictably tight game between the second and third-placed clubs at the Wanda Metropolitano few chances were created but Atletico had the upper hand, with Neto tipping away a Saul Niguez piledriver from some distance and then repelling Diego Costa's header from a corner.
Correa broke the deadlock in spectacular fashion in the 59th minute, receiving the ball from Koke and crashing a shot into the top right corner from outside the area for his sixth league goal of the season.
Soccer Football - La Liga Santander - Atletico Madrid vs Valencia - Wanda Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain - February 4, 2018 Atletico Madrid's Koke in action with Valencia's Santi Mina REUTERS/Susana Vera
It was enough to help Atletico move closer to Barcelona, who dropped two points earlier after drawing 1-1 at local rivals Espanyol.
(Reporting by Rik Sharma; Editing by Clare Fallon)
Soccer Football - La Liga Santander - Atletico Madrid vs Valencia - Wanda Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain - February 4, 2018 Atletico Madrid's Diego Costa in action with Valencia's Geoffrey Kondogbia REUTERS/Susana VeraSoccer Football - La Liga Santander - Atletico Madrid vs Valencia - Wanda Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain - February 4, 2018 Atletico Madrid's Diego Costa heads at goal REUTERS/Susana VeraSoccer Football - La Liga Santander - Atletico Madrid vs Valencia - Wanda Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain - February 4, 2018 Atletico Madrid's Diego Costa gestures REUTERS/Susana Vera
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
