Atlético Madrid took a well deserved lead in the first-half courtesy of a long range strike by Tiago, however, a mistake by José Giménez gifted Lucas Pérez a merited equaliser to give the home side a vital point.
Deportivo hosted third placed Atléti in the opening of matchday 10 and looked to continue their fine start to the La Liga season. Diego Simeone’s side was also showing consistency after their losses against Barcelona, Villarreal and Benfica, with wins against FC Astana, Valencia and a draw against Real Madrid putting the Rojiblacos within touching distance of leaders in both domestic and European competition.
Simeone, in recent weeks, has decided to minimize rotation and today was no different with notably in-form Jackson Martínez and Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco featuring in the starting lineup alongside the regular deputies. Victor Sánchez decided to continue his attacking style of play, regardless of coming against a familiar defensive Atléti, with Pérez occupying the lone striker role and Fede Cartabia, Faycal Fajr and Jonás Gutiérrez playing just behind the Spaniard in support.
Yet it was the away side that started the stronger and threatened within minutes of the opening, with Giménez jumping highest to header Koke’s cross that was saved by Germán Lux. Deportivo’s defenders would then continue to throw themselves into action to block Antoine Griezmann’s and Martínez’ efforts in opening the scoring. Atléti would not have to wait long for the breakthrough with Tiago latching onto a deflection, firing low into the bottom-right corner from outside the box.
Moments later Diego Godín had a great opportunity following another cross from Koke to double Atléti’s advantage, again showing how dangerous Simeone’s side is with set pieces. However, Godín’s header hit the right post. Griezmann and Martínez would again have more chances in scoring, yet a resilient Deportivo backline held firm to see out halftime.
Deportivo came out after the break as a different team, beginning to threaten Godín, Giménez and Jan Oblak with Pérez inparticular showing quality and vision to set up chances for his teammates. Within two minutes of play, Cartabia had two excellent chances to level the scores, though Oblak was equal to the task in preventing the home side from getting back into the game.
Simeone looked to cement the win by making changes in his side, putting on Ángel Correa and Saúl Ñíguez for Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco and Jackson Martínez, however, minutes after the change, Deportivo’s continues press for an equaliser would come from Pérez. The Spaniard, who continuously worked hard in the lone striker role, took advantage of a mistake by Giménez and with great composure rounded Oblak placing the ball in the back of the net past the stretched legs of Godín.
Deportivo would not stop there though, with Fajr firing a curling effort late on outside the box that hit the bar which would have given the home side an incredible comeback victory. However, like Deportivo did towards the end of the first-half, Atléti held firm to gain a point in a tough away fixture which was fair given both side’s chances.
Click NEXT for more major talking points
