Atletico Madrid tightened their hold on third place in LaLiga with a commanding 3-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano at the Metropolitano on Thursday night.
Following a disappointing 1-0 loss to Las Palmas that all but ended their title aspirations, Diego Simeone’s men delivered a dominant response, climbing to 66 points, six ahead of Athletic Bilbao in fourth.
The hosts made an electric start, with Alexander Sorloth nodding in Giuliano Simeone’s cross at the back post just three minutes into the match.
The Norwegian nearly made it two shortly after, breaking free for a one-on-one with Augusto Batalla, but the Rayo goalkeeper stood firm and turned the effort wide.
On the cusp of half-time, Rodrigo De Paul delivered a precise cross for Conor Gallagher, who rose above the defense to head home Atletico’s second.
Rayo Vallecano showed more intent after the break. Isi Palazon rose above his marker and powered a header toward goal, only to be denied by a combination of the crossbar and Jan Oblak’s quick reactions.
Atletico sealed the result in the 77th minute when substitute Antoine Griezmann split the defense with a clever pass to Julian Alvarez, who calmly slotted past Batalla.
The result leaves Rayo sitting 11th on 41 points, five adrift of the European qualification spots.
Atletico had failed to win their previous three LaLiga derbies (D1 L2), but put that poor run to rest with a ruthless display in front of their home crowd.
Their dominance over Vallecano continues, with this latest result extending an unbeaten streak in league matches against the Madrid rivals to 16 games (13 wins, 3 draws) since February 2013.
Sorloth’s opener marked yet another goal against Rayo, and since his arrival in 2021-22, only Vinicius Junior (nine against Valencia) has scored more goals against a single opponent than the Norwegian’s seven against Vallecano.
Julian Alvarez’s goal added to his impressive debut season tally, reaching 15 goals. Only Radamel Falcao, Antoine Griezmann, Luis Suarez, and Diego Forlan have netted more in their first campaign for Atletico.
