Eibar stun Atletico; Mallorca out of relegation with win over Valencia

Atletico Madrid’s hopes of getting back into the Spanish title race faded even further with a 2-0 defeat away by struggling Eibar in La Liga on Saturday.

The tiny Basque side, who have the smallest stadium in La Liga, took the lead in the 10th minute when Esteban Burgos stabbed home from close range at the far post after Atletico failed to properly defend a corner.

Atletico, who lost last Sunday’s Super Cup final to the Real Madrid on penalties, were without captain Koke plus the defenders Kieran Trippier and Jose Gimenez and never got a grip on the game on a rain-swept evening at the Ipurua.

Edu Exposito’s thumping shot from the edge of the area in the 90th minute sealed Eibar’s first victory in 12 top-flight games against Atletico and took them seven points clear of the relegation zone.

Atleti, meanwhile, are third on 35 points, eight behind leaders Real Madrid.

Atletico midfielder Saul Niguez, who was asked to play at left back during the game, was scathing of his side’s performance.

“We made a bad start yet again and it’s been happening a lot recently. We really struggled to get going, we lacked hunger after being on a good run. This is a tough blow for us,” he told reporters.

“Ipurua is a small stadium and they know exactly how to play to their strengths here, they beat us in all the second balls and knew how to deal with our attacks. We needed to play with more intelligence.”

Atletico coach Diego Simeone added: “We started very badly, we barely played in the first half and didn’t do what we needed to do.

“It’s always been difficult for us here, when we have won here the games have been very tight and today was similar, but they made the most of our mistakes and we couldn’t take our chances.”

Meanwhile, Croatian striker Ante Budimir scored twice as Mallorca moved out of the relegation zone with a 4-1 win against 10-man Valencia in a played under rainy conditions on Sunday.

It was Mallorca’s first win in seven rounds and their biggest victory since they were was promoted to the first division this season.

Defender Antonio Raíllo opened the scoring for Mallorca in the seventh minute by heading in a cross from Salva Sevilla.

Budimir steered in another goal in the 22nd before capping a Mallorca buildup of one-touch passes in the 41st for a 3-0 lead.

Valencia’s Dani Parejo was sent off for a second booking in the 51st before Mallorca’s Dani Rodríguez struck from long range in the 79th.

Ferran Torres got Valencia’s consolation goal three minutes later.

Valencia are on seventh place after their first loss in six rounds. Valencia will play Atalanta in the Champions League Round of 16 with the first leg in Italy on Feb. 19.

Sunday saw rain over large areas of eastern Spain and its Balearic Islands, of which Mallorca is the largest.

Midtable Real Betis beat Real Sociedad 3-0 at home thanks to goals by Borja Iglesias, Joaquín Sánchez, and Sergio Canales.

The loss left Sociedad in sixth place, right behind Getafe.

Agencies