Atletico Madrid 2-1 Cadiz: Joao Felix and Rodrigo De Paul give Atleti three valuable points despite late red card

Atletico Madrid have gone third in La Liga with a narrow 2-1 win against Cadiz, temporarily leapfrogging Barcelona ahead of their game against Osasuna on Sunday. Despite coming into this game 18th in the table, Cadiz were undefeated in four and in the most consistent form of any side in the bottom half. Ad/> While that run included three draws against Grenada, Getafe and Celta Vigo, under Sergio Gonazalez – appointed as manager in January – they have generally been much harder to beat than they were across the first half of the season.

LigaFantastic Felix scores twice as Atletico beat Betis to move into fourth06/03/2022 AT 19:19 The visitors made the worst possible start to the match, goalkeeper Jeremias Ledesma playing an attempted pass out from the back straight to the feet of Joao Felix. He took a touch, composed himself, cut back inside and rifled into the far corner from a tight angle to make it 1-0. Atleti looked content to sit on their lead, ceding the majority of possession to Cadiz as they waited for a killer opening.

Gonzalez’s side kept things tight for the rest of the first half, however, and gradually started to wrest the momentum from their hosts. Chances for Alfonso Espino, Alvaro Negredo and Anthony Lozano had Diego Simeone looking increasingly agitated on the sidelines, barking admonishments at his players and removing his black jacket with a dramatic flourish. If his side’s lax defending piqued his anger, it was nothing compared to what happened next.