Cristian Romero’s 87th-minute goal decides Alaves v Atletico Madrid in La Liga

A late winner after the red card

Atletico Madrid beat Alaves 2-1 in La Liga at Estadio de Mendizorroza, with Cristian Romero’s 87th-minute goal deciding the result. The late strike came after Angel Pérez Hidalgo had been sent off for Alaves in the 61st minute, leaving the hosts to finish with 10 players.

Alejandro Grimaldo opened the scoring for Atletico in the 33rd minute, making it 0-1 with Jonathan David providing the assist. Lucas Boyé restored parity for Alaves with a penalty in the 45th minute, sending the match to half-time at 1-1. Romero then scored a normal goal in the 87th minute, assisted by Alejandro Baena Rodríguez, to make the final score 1-2.

Atletico had the greater attacking output

The narrow scoreline did not reflect Atletico’s territorial control. D. Simeone’s side had 68% possession, 20 total shots and 7 shots on goal, compared with Alaves’ 32% possession, 8 shots and 3 shots on goal. Atletico also completed 637 accurate passes to Alaves’ 270 and won 10 corners, while their expected-goals figure was 2.06 against Alaves’ 1.13.

The visitors made their listed half-time changes, bringing on Alejandro Baena Rodríguez and Julián Álvarez, and later introduced Lee Kang-In and Dávid Hancko. Grimaldo was the standout performer, receiving an 8.4 rating after 90 minutes, with 1 goal, 2 shots on target and 6 key passes.

Form and pre-match table context

The defeat followed Alaves’ pre-match sequence of Win, Draw, Win, Win, Loss, Loss, Draw, while Atletico added a win to their sequence of Win, Draw, Win, Loss, Win, Win, Win. The provisional table going into the match listed Alaves sixth on 11 points from 7 games and Atletico second on 16 points from 7 games, with Atletico 5 points ahead of Alaves (16 v 11).