Griezmann sees Atletico into Cup quarters
MADRID: Antoine Griezmann struck for the third time in as many games in 2017 as Atletico Madrid secured their place in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey 4-3 on aggregate despite losing 3-2 at home to Las Palmas on Tuesday.
Griezmann shrugged off the disappointment of finishing third behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi for world’s best player at the inaugural Best Fifa Football Awards on Monday to force home the opener four minutes into the second half.
A fine individual effort from Marko Livaja gave Las Palmas a brief lifeline, but Angel Correa looked to have killed the tie off just after the hour mark.
However, the hosts were made to sweat in the final seconds of stoppage time as two goals in three minutes from Livaja and Mateo Garcia gave Las Palmas victory on the night.
“These type of things always happen in the Copa del Rey,” Atletico boss Diego Simeone told BeIN Sports Spain.
“They finished the few chances they had well which meant, despite us having the game under control, they take away the victory.”
Despite holding a commanding 2-0 first leg lead, Atletico boss Diego Simeone took no chances by naming MILAN: A superb second-half volley from Emanuele Giaccherini set Napoli up for an impressive 3-1 win over La Spezia that secured a place in the Italian Cup quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri and makeshift striker Dries Mertens were notable absences at the San Paolo due to both serving one-match suspensions and watched from the comfort of the executive boxes.
By the end of a dominant first half for the Serie A title challengers, Sarri had his head in his hands in frustration after Antonio Piccolo’s deflected 35th-minute strike levelled Piotr Zielinski’s welltaken third-minute opener for the hosts.
Spezia had eliminated Serie A strugglers Palermo in the previous round, but any hopes of causing an upset were quickly extinguished.
Zielinski exposed the visitors barely three minutes in after collecting possession on the left, cutting in unchallenged and beating Leandro Chichizola in the Spezia net with a superb curling strike at the keeper’s far post.
Napoli should have doubled were wasteful every time.
Manolo Gabbiadini had stepped in to replace Mertens and tested Chichizola with a fierce longrange strike on 24 minutes.
Lorenzo Insigne then hit the post with the softest of touches from Giaccherini’s cut-back, and from the corner Zielinski forced Chichizola their lead, but a strong side.
Griezmann was included despite making the trip to Zurich to attend Fifa’s gala just 24 hours earlier and had the first big chance when he fired straight at Raul Lizoain on 23 minutes.
Las Palmas had chances to get back into the tie as Miguel Angel Moya produced a great save to deny Livaja’s header at the near post before Tana blasted over when well-placed inside the area.
Griezmann scored for the first time in La Liga for three months in a 2-0 win at Eibar on Saturday, but the Frenchman is now on his best scoring run of the season as he tapped home Nicolas Gaitan’s cross at the start of the second half to give Atletico extra breathing space.
Livaja took advantage of some uncharacteristically lax defending from Diego Godin and Jose Maria Gimenez to drive through the heart of the Atletico defence and smash the ball into the far corner. into a desperate one-handed tip over the crossbar.
Gabbiadini turned on the style, controlling well to drop a backheel into the path of Insigne only for his curling strike to inch agonisingly wide.
A Giulio Maggiore snapshot on a rare Spezia foray fired a warning to Napoli keeper Rafael, who after punching a dangerous cross into the path of Piccolo on the edge of the area was left rooted when his shot deflected off Raul Albiol and bounced into the net.
Piccolo, a native Neapolitan, refused to celebrate — perhaps also due to the way he scored.
Rafael then parried Alessandro Piu’s drive at the near post and was happy to see Piccolo’s curling shot charged down.
Spezia looked determined after the restart, until Giaccherini timed a run to perfection and met Insigne’s weighted delivery with a sweet right-footed volley that sailed past Chichizola and into the far top corner of the net.
Spezia heads went down and two minutes later Marko Rog coolly dribbled his way into the area to deliver a cross that Gabbiadini chested into the net from close range.
Leonardo Pavoletti, recently signed from Genoa, made his Napoli debut when he replaced Gabbiadini 10 minutes from the end and spurned a great chance in the dying minutes when he bundled over the bar from a yard out.