Atletico Madrid 1-1 Rayo Vallecano: Radamel Falcao's late penalty denies Diego Simeone's fourth straight La Liga win

Radamel Falcao scored a penalty in stoppage-time to deny Atletico Madrid victory and earn Rayo Vallecano a share of the spoils in a 1-1 draw at the Wanda Metropolitano. A 20th-minute strike from Alvaro Morata would have been the difference between the two sides in a low-key affair, but a Jose Gimenez handball saw Vallecano given a penalty at the death, with Falcao the hero as he converted from the spot against his former club to give the visitors an unlikely point.

Ad It was a game starved of any real clear-cut chances, Atleti found their rhythm at the moment that they needed it as Antoine Griezmann led a high press that forced the mistake from Fran Garcia. The Frenchman then had the awareness to find Morata, who swept home beyond the helpless Stole Dimitrievski.

La LigaGriezmann goal sees Atleti leapfrog Bilbao into third place15/10/2022 AT 18:17 The visitors struggled to really get into the game as they were suffocated by the hosts' midfield box, with their two wide men inverting to form more of a 4-2-2-2, outnumbering the Vallecano double pivot and attacking midfielder. Hence, Andoni Iraola was forced into a half-time change, replacing Jose Pozo with the more box-to-box Santi Comesana as he switched to a 4-3-3 to get a foothold of the engine room.

Comesana almost had the visitors level as his cross found Pathe Ciss at the back post, but the Senegalese nodded wide of the target from close range on 50 minutes. Morata went close from a 57th-minute Griezmann corner as he peeled away from his marker at the far post to nod narrowly wide, but that was home side came in the dying embers of a drab encounter.