Atletico thrash Valladolid 5-0 to provisionally move to second in LaLiga

VALLADOLID, Spain : Atletico Madrid hammered bottom side Real Valladolid 5-0 in a LaLiga encounter at the Jose Zorrilla stadium on Saturday and provisionally moved into second place in the standings.

Atletico are on 32 points, two ahead of Real Madrid, who have two games in hand. Barcelona, who lost 2-1 to Las Palmas earlier on Saturday, remain top with 34 points.

Clement Lenglet opened the scoring for Atletico after 26 minutes with a close-range finish from Marcos Llorente's cross from the right, marking the French defender's first LaLiga goal since 2020.

Julian Alvarez doubled the lead in the 35th minute, pouncing on a rebound from goalkeeper Karl Hein who had blocked Antoine Griezmann's shot but could not deny the Argentine striker from the second attempt.

Rodrigo De Paul made it 3-0 two minutes later with a first-time low shot, before Griezmann added another goal seven minutes into the second half after a brilliant move that drew applause from the opposing fans.

Alexander Sorloth scored a stoppage-time winner as Valladolid slumped to their tenth defeat in 15 games, leaving them bottom of the table on nine points.