Memphis Depay struck late with his first goal for 10-man Atletico Madrid to hand his new club a dramatic 1-0 victory away at Celta Vigo, who are now winless in their last nine matches with Diego Simeone’s men.
Both teams came into this contest in decent form, with Celta Vigo having won back-to-back matches in La Liga since returning from the World Cup break, while Atletico had lost just once in the same period to runaway leaders Barcelona.
Atletico have the joint second-best defensive record in La Liga, and so it was little surprise that they were able to keep their hosts at bay, however Diego Simeone will have wanted to see more from his side in the other aspect of their play in a lacklustre first half.
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Just three minutes after the restart, he almost got his wish when Llorente squared to Álvaro Morata inside the area, but the striker had his shot saved low down to his left by Iván Villar.
The game was in desperate need of a spark inside the last 20 minutes, and those in attendance got just that.
Despite losing Stefan Savić to a red card, and seeing Aspas hit the crossbar with the resulting free-kick, Simeone’s men defied the odds once again as Depay hooked the ball home from close range to stun the home fans and consolidate his side’s place in fourth, while Celta Vigo remain 13th.
