November 07, (THEWILL) – Atletico Madrid threw away a two-goal lead in a surprising 3-3 draw away to Valencia on Sunday, with Hugo Duro scoring twice in second-half stoppage time.
Atletico appeared to be on pace to bounce back from a humiliating midweek loss to Liverpool, but Valencia showed great character to come back late.
The visitors dominated the first half and took the lead through Luis Suarez’s spectacular strike, but Valencia improved after the break and equalised thanks to Stefan Savic’s own goal.
Atletico Madrid’s quick-fire double, courtesy of Antoine Griezmann and Sime Vrsaljko, appeared to be enough for the champions, only for Valencia substitute Duro to rescue a point with a late brace.
The champs’ ability to dominate was not hampered by the early loss of Kieran Trippier to a shoulder injury.
Suarez took Angel Correa’s clever pass and left Mouctar Diakhaby for dead with a fantastic first touch that preceded a left-footed strike that went in off the post just after the half-hour mark.
Valencia improved after the break and immediately equalised, with a goal from Goncalo Guedes, assisted by Jan Oblak and Savic.
The parity, however, did not last. Griezmann robbed Hugo Guillamon just inside the Atletico half-way line and went on a single run that ended with a spectacular 25-yard strike into the top-left corner.
Suarez bundled the ball past Jasper Cillessen two minutes later, and Vrsaljko was on hand to nudge the ball over the line, but Valencia were far from finished.
With 92 minutes on the clock, Duro directed a wonderful volley past Oblak from Jose Gaya’s cross to put Atletico on the back foot, and then the striker headed home Guedes’ free-kick delivery to cap a remarkable comeback.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
