MADRID: Atletico Madrid striker Fernando Torres came off the bench to fire his side to a 1-0 win at home to Alaves on Saturday which took Diego Simeone’s side up to second in La Liga above Valencia, who stumbled to a 2-1 defeat at Eibar.

Torres broke the deadlock five minutes after going on in the 69th — his first in La Liga this season and his first at the Wanda Metropolitano —with Atletico’s attack stifled by Alaves’ well-positioned defence.

“We didn’t have many chances to win the match, but were always in charge. The entry of [Angel] Correa, [Yannick] Carrasco and, especially, Torres gave us that extra bit that we needed to get the win,” Simeone said. “There is still a long way to go in the league. We only look toward our next game and keep trying to improve.”

Torres, a former Liverpool and Chelsea striker, made his run forward in sync with Sime Vrsaljko’s cross from the right flank before sliding to redirect the ball home with his left foot.

Atletico are second in the standings on 36 points, three behind Barca, who have a game in hand, while Valencia are third on 34. Real Madrid, fourth on 31, missed the weekend’s domestic action due to playing in the Club World Cup final, where they beat Gremio 1-0.

Valencia saw their unlikely title tilt dented by a much-improved Eibar side, who twice took the lead after the break and held on to win their fourth game in five and inflict a second consecutive away defeat on Marcelino’s side.

Valencia forward Santi Mina equalised in the 57th to cancel out Takashi Inui’s opener for Eibar just after halftime but Eibar midfielder Joan Jordan powered in a header from a cross by Ivan Alejo to grab victory for the hosts with three minutes remaining.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2017