Atletico Madrid Beats Leganes in Spanish League in Partially Closed Stadium

Atletico Madrid Beats Leganes in Spanish League in Partially Closed Stadium
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Atletico Madrid Beats Leganes in Spanish League in Partially Closed Stadium

Atletico Madrid Beats Leganes in Spanish League in Partially Closed Stadium

Fewer fans than normal watched Atletico Madrid beat Leganes 3-1 on Sunday in a Spanish league match played in a partially closed stadium because of recent fan trouble.
Alexander Sorloth scored twice and Antoine Griezmann once after the visitors took the lead in the first half at the Metropolitano stadium, which had an empty fan section behind one of the goals as punishment after Atletico fans threw objects on the field during a city derby against Real Madrid last month, The Associated Press reported.
The section is where the club's more radical supporters usually gather.
Atletico had been originally ordered to close the section for three matches but appealed the decision and the punishment was reduced to a single match. The derby was interrupted for more than 15 minutes after fans threw the objects near Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois in a game that ended 1-1.
Sunday's victory, which ended Atletico's three match winless streak in all competitions, moved Diego Simeone's team to third place in the league, four points behind leaders Barcelona and Madrid.
Also Sunday, Mallorca defeated visiting Rayo Vallecano 1-0 with a goal by Vedat Muriqi in the 75th. It was the fourth win in five matches for Mallorca, which moved to sixth place in the standings. Rayo stayed ninth.



Liverpool Stays Ahead of Man City by Beating Chelsea 2-1 in Premier League

20 October 2024, United Kingdom, Liverpool: Liverpool's Curtis Jones celebrates scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea at the Anfield. Photo: Peter Byrne/PA Wire/dpa
20 October 2024, United Kingdom, Liverpool: Liverpool's Curtis Jones celebrates scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea at the Anfield. Photo: Peter Byrne/PA Wire/dpa
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Liverpool Stays Ahead of Man City by Beating Chelsea 2-1 in Premier League

20 October 2024, United Kingdom, Liverpool: Liverpool's Curtis Jones celebrates scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea at the Anfield. Photo: Peter Byrne/PA Wire/dpa
20 October 2024, United Kingdom, Liverpool: Liverpool's Curtis Jones celebrates scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea at the Anfield. Photo: Peter Byrne/PA Wire/dpa

Liverpool is looking more and more like Manchester City’s main title rival after beating resurgent Chelsea 2-1 on Sunday to stay top of the Premier League table.
After City needed an injury-time header from John Stones to beat last-place Wolves 2-1 in the early kickoff, Liverpool answered with a composed performance at Anfield to hand Chelsea its first league loss since the opening round, The Associated Press reported.
Having seen third-place Arsenal lose at Bournemouth on Saturday to raise questions about the Gunners’ title hopes, Liverpool and City took full advantage to build a small gap atop the standings. Arne Slot’s team leads on 21 points from eight games, one ahead of City and four above Arsenal.
Curtis Jones orchestrated the win for Liverpool, earning a penalty for Mohamed Salah’s first-half opener and then scoring himself to restore the host’s lead in the 51st minute, shortly after Nicolas Jackson had equalized for Chelsea.
Liverpool was the last team other than City to win the title, in 2019-20, and pushed Pep Guardiola’s team to the very end several times under Jurgen Klopp before finishing just fifth two years ago and a distant third last season.
In Slot’s first season in charge, though, the Reds are looking like credible challengers again and have now won 10 of 11 games in all competitions.
And City is looking far from unbeatable, needing another last-gasp goal from Stones to avoid a third league draw in four games against a Wolves team that only has one point so far.
It also needed a VAR intervention for the goal to stand, as referee Chris Kavanagh was called to the sideline monitor to review whether Bernardo Silva was interfering with goalkeeper Jose Sa from an offside position.
“We are not used to winning games at the end,” said Guardiola, whose team has won four straight league titles by regularly overwhelming most opponents. “It is a good flavor for us.”
It also extended City’s unbeaten streak to a club-record 31 league games, beating a mark Guardiola’s team had set in 2018.
With prolific striker Erling Haaland held scoreless for a third straight league game, City’s defenders provided the goals instead after Jorgen Strand Larsen had given the hosts a surprising early lead in the seventh minute.
Josko Gvardiol curled in a superb right-foot shot from outside the area to equalize in the 33rd minute but Wolves then repelled wave after wave of City attacks before the late intervention from Stones, who also netted a last-gasp equalizer against Arsenal in the eighth minute of injury time last month.
“These moments don’t come often for us,” Stones said. “We’ve come up with a few over the years and today was one of them.”