Atletico Madrid 4-0 Sporting de Gijon

Well an easy win for Atletico Madrid (AM) in the end as one might have expected. Gijon's defensive weaknesses were exposed in their 4-2-3-1 system as AM powered through in the end with their great attacking lineup.

The game had a scrappy start with a couple of fouls and an injury to an AM player which took up a few minutes but the first chance of the game fell to Aguero in the ninth minute. Soon after the home side had another chance as Reyes force a save from Juan Pablo. The resulting corner gave us the first goal of the game as a half clearance fell to Juardo who shot through the crowd.

For the next quarter of an hour or so Gijon came forward more and were looking for an equaliser but never really created any clear cut chances as AM stifled their possession of the ball. This was the best period of the game for Gijon until the 39th minute when Aguero made a brilliant run through the Gijon defence and pulled back for Forlan to tap in; 2-0. The only remaining action of the first half was when Lora was booked for jumping into the back of Juardo and the AM payer was down for some time.

The second half continued with AM on top and Gijon creating very little. Garcia went close on 59' before a few minutes later, the ball was once again pulled back for Forlan who made it three. After this the game became easy for AM as Gijon appeared to have given up the ghost whilst the home side looked disinterested in adding a fourth. A fourth did come though in the dying seconds of the game when Simão struck home from the edge of the box.

A straight forward win for AM as they looked like they could rip the Gijon defence apart whenever they chose. Their frontline could be a real goalscoring machine this year and whilst their back four were rarely severely put under pressure they did what they needed to do. Gijon will have to improve their pressing game at the back if they wish to once again attain the 'magical' 40 points for survival.