The second half of La Liga saw the first game of contention, with Villarreal's home game against Atletico receiving huge attention. Atletico were the defending champions last season, winning a total of 33 trophies in the team's history, making them the third-biggest club in La Liga after Real Madrid and Barca. Villarreal, the new winner of the Europa League, is currently just four points away from the Champions League zone, a decisive battle for the fourth place.
After the opening, Atletico came into shape faster, and in the 10th minute Correa broke the ball in midfield, he looked up to observe the goalkeeper's position, found that some of them were forward, decisively lifted his feet to hang, the ball drew a beautiful arc in the air, and then flew into the net nest before the goalkeeper landed, this fairy goal put tens of thousands of fans in Villarreal into a dead silence. The goal also greatly boosted the morale of atletico players, but unfortunately the good times did not last long, and just 10 minutes later, Lemar delivered a big gift in the box.
Villarreal's attack ended with Lemar's careless handball. The team's lead scorer, Moreno, took the lead, and although Oblak guessed the right direction for the first time and saved the ball, Parejo made up for it. However, after the referee's verification, the ball Parejo offside was ruled invalid in the first goal, and Atletico escaped the disaster. However, after 6 minutes, the home team made a comeback, Huang Qian opened a set-piece on the left side of the field, Oblak wanted to hold the ball with both hands in the penalty area but appeared to be out of hand, and the follow-up Torres easily pushed the empty goal to win, and the two teams drew 1-1 in the first half.
In the second half of the competition, Huang Qian became the leading party. In the 56th minute, Huang Qian instigated a counterattack, moreno received a teammate's direct ball in the middle, burst into the box, facing Oblak he did not hesitate, decisively pushed the middle of the road, and then the ball bounced into the net, Emery's team rebounded the score.
In desperation, Correa once again stood up for Atletico. He received an inverted triangle return pass from Carrasco down the left side, calmly adjusted and pumped a strong shot in the penalty area, which led to the goalkeeper's disengagement, and then Condobia decisively met the ball and fired furiously, the ball slid into the net at a very fast speed, and the goalkeeper did not react at all. Neither side achieved anything since then, and the final score was fixed at 2-2, and Atletico struggled to take away one point away from home.
However, for Atletico, this 1 point is not thirsty, although Atletico is still in the fourth place, but the Real Sociedad behind him is the same point, Barca is only 1 point away, the champions league will fall at any time. Technical statistics after the game show that Atletico only has 42% of the ball in this game, and the number of shots on goal is 7, which is exactly half of Villarreal, it can be said that atletico's points lost in this game are not unjust at all, and even it is quite lucky to be able to get a point. Apparently, the defending champions of La Liga have suffered huge difficulties this season, and Simeone's side has been thrown 16 points by Real Madrid.
The reason for Atletico's downturn may also be related to Griezmann's return. It is well known that Griezmann is a traitor in the hearts of Atletico fans, but Simeone shamelessly urged the club to recall the French international at the beginning of the season, and there are discordant voices within the team. After his return, Griezmann's performance in the league is also extremely average, with only 3 goals currently in the account. It can be said that the team that should be happy has become Barca, and while getting rid of Griezmann's super high salary, it has also eradicated a time bomb, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.