CNN
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Antoine Griezmann scored twice, together with instantly from a nook, as Atlético Madrid defeated Actual Betis 2-1 on Sunday to maneuver as much as third in Spain’s La Liga.
After a goalless first-half, Griezmann’s ‘Olimpico’ aim gave Atlético the lead when Rui Silva failed to collect his nook – minutes after Betis had seen Luiz Henrique’s effort disallowed for an offside within the build-up.
The French worldwide scored his second by way of the legs of Silva after neat interaction with Ángel Correa and substitute Matheus Cunha.
Betis hit again by way of Nabil Fekir’s very good free-kick and nearly drew stage in stoppage time when Álex Moreno’s header hit the bar.
It was a irritating finish to the sport for the house facet, which is now fifth in La Liga – three factors behind Atlético and 11 behind chief Actual Madrid.
In keeping with Atlético, Griezmann is now third within the membership’s all-time scoring charts after Sunday’s recreation with 147 targets, behind Luis Aragonés on 172 and Adrián Escudero on 169.
The win means Diego Simeone’s facet went unbeaten in La Liga in October and subsequent performs Bayer Leverkusen within the Champions League on Wednesday, the place it wants a win to remain in rivalry for a spot within the knockout stage of the competitors.
Griezmann signed a brand new contract with Atlético earlier this month having performed on mortgage from Barcelona for the reason that summer time of 2021 – ending a wierd time frame when the 31-year-old star ahead was primarily used as a second-half substitute.
In 11 video games for Atlético between August 15 and October 8, Griezmann solely began three matches – within the different eight he got here on as an alternative on the hour mark or simply after.
In keeping with the Guardian, Griezmann’s mortgage from Barcelona meant there have been restrictions across the variety of instances he might play greater than 45 minutes in a match, in any other case Atlético must buy the French worldwide and pay the Catalan membership $39.2 million (€40 million).
He scored three targets previous to signing the brand new contract on October 10, and since then has netted 3 times in 4 video games. Griezmann was in Atlético’s beginning 11 for the final 4 matches.
The brand new contract retains him at Atlético till June 2026.
Elsewhere, Barcelona continued its good type this season with a snug 4-0 victory in opposition to Athletic Bilbao.
Targets from Ousmane Dembélé, Sergi Roberto and Robert Lewandowski contained in the opening 22 minutes gave Barcelona a commanding lead, earlier than Ferrán Torres accomplished the rout within the second half.
Lewandowski’s first-half effort, which got here after an excellent run from Dembélé, took the Polish striker to 12 targets in La Liga this season – 5 greater than some other participant.
Barça is now three factors behind Actual Madrid, its solely defeat within the league coming in El Clásico earlier this month.
