La Liga is the third major European championship to have resumed after the long winter break of the World Cup. Thursday evening, Atlético de Madrid faced Elche on behalf of the 15th day of the Spanish championship. The Colchonéros won 2 goals to 0 and are temporarily back on the podium, ten points behind the leader, FC Barcelona (37 points) who face Espanyol Barcelona on Saturday for a derby.
Antoine Griezmann, back after the World Cup final lost to Argentina, which he missed, made a colorful comeback as a starter. Height of a decisive pass for Joao Felix (56th) on the opening of the score, he especially appeared with a new fluorescent pink hair dye. The second goal was scored by Alvaro Morata (74th), with a shot deflected by Omar Mascarell after an individual action.
The evening was obviously marked by the death of Pelé. A minute of silence in his homage was observed before the start of the match and the players of Atlético de Madrid played with a black bracelet around their arm.
Another fact of the evening, the Argentinians Angel Correa, Rodrigo de Paul and Nahuel Molina presented their medals of world champions to the public under the applause of Antoine Griezmann, apparently far from the chambers between Argentinians and French.
Finally, three red cards were distributed. The first against Gonzalo Verdu (Elche) just before half-time for a collision with Alvaro Morata in front of the area (45th + 1). The second was sent to Mario Hermoso (Atlético de Madrid), already warned, for a dangerous tackle on Helibelton Palacios (53rd). And the last in the 90th for Domingos Quina (Eleche), sanctioned with two yellows in the space of four minutes.
Tonight Real Madrid, currently 2nd in La Liga, will resume competition with Karim Benzema “full of motivation and enthusiasm”, according to Ancelotti.