Griezmann's late brace leads Atletico to comeback win
A second-half double from Antoine Griezmann earned Atletico Madrid a stunning 4-3 comeback home win over Sevilla in LaLiga on Sunday, as the hosts claimed their ninth straight win in all competitions.
Atletico made a dominant start at home, with Griezmann hitting the crossbar before Rodrigo De Paul opened the scoring in the 10th minute, hammering a rocket from the edge of the box and into the top corner.
Sevilla's Dodi Lukebakio equalised just two minutes later with a powerful low strike following a corner before Isaac Romero put them ahead after a quick counter-attack in the 32nd minute, shooting across goalkeeper Jan Oblak, who could only get a finger to the ball.
Atletico thought they had levelled the score just before halftime when Julian Alvarez put the ball in the net from a De Paul pass, but the VAR disallowed the Argentine striker's goal for an offside in the build-up.
Juanlu Sanchez then extended the visitors' advantage in the 57th minute with a close-range finish off Kike Salas's second assist of the game before Griezmann pulled one back for Atletico five minutes later.
Substitute Samuel Lino struck from long range to beat Sevilla keeper Alvaro Fernandez, who had pulled off some key saves but could not prevent the Brazilian's first goal of the season.
Griezmann found the net again four minutes into stoppage time to seal the victory that left Atletico third in the standings with 35 points, one behind Real Madrid and three shy of leaders Barcelona.
"We are doing well. We struggled to get back into the game. Sevilla had two chances and scored two goals," Griezmann told Movistar.
"We are a united group, we all are on the same path. It's the way forward to dream big. We will try to win everything. There will be difficult moments but we have to keep fighting."
Sevilla, who came close to their first win away to Atletico since 2008, remain 13th on 19 points.
"We conceded too much. It slipped away from us. The draw wasn't even bad. It is painful," Sevilla's Fernandez said.
"But we know that Atletico are the fittest team in LaLiga, so we are very proud."
Napoli denied top spot after another loss
Lazio denied Napoli the chance to return to the top of the Serie A standings with a 1-0 away win on Sunday, their second victory this week over Napoli, following their midweek Coppa Italia success.
Napoli remain second on 32 points, two behind leaders Atalanta and while Lazio stay fifth, the win moved them level on 31 points with Inter Milan and Fiorentina, who have both played a game less.
Lazio advanced at the expense of Napoli in a 3-1 win at the Stadio Olimpico on Thursday, and while two much-changed sides took to the pitch in Naples, the league meeting finished with the same outcome thanks to Gustav Isaksen's 79th-minute goal.
Only two of the 22 who started the cup tie were on the pitch at kickoff for this game, with Lazio's Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Mattia Zaccagni the only players to keep their places.
Heavy rain poured down at kickoff at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona and Napoli poured forward in the opening minutes.
Scott McTominay had an early chance to score for the second successive league game but Lazio keeper Ivan Provedel pulled off a reflex save after Matteo Politano laid the ball back from the byline.
After a frantic start by the home side, Lazio began to get a foothold in the game and it was the turn of Napoli keeper Alex Meret to keep the match scoreless after Isaksen cut inside from the wing before getting a strike away.
The last action of the half almost broke the deadlock but Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's free kick whizzed just wide of the upright.
Lazio went close shortly after the break with Dele-Bashiru's shot from distance rattling the crossbar, and later Napoli's Andre Anguissa's header from a corner hit the upright, in what was a scrappier affair in the second half.
Tijjani Noslin's entrance from the bench must have struck fear into Napoli fans after the Lazio forward's hat-trick sent them crashing out of the cup just days previously, but his first effort from a counter attack was blasted high and wide.
Minutes later, however, it was Noslin's pass which set Isaksen on his way and he twisted and turned to go past Mathias Olivera before striking a stunning curling effort into the far corner to put Lazio back into contention in what is turning out to be a close title race.
