Kevin Gameiro came off the bench to score a hat-trick in the space of five minutes to fire Atletico Madrid to a 4-1 win over struggling Sporting Gijon in La Liga on Saturday that kept it in fourth spot.
Yannick Carrasco had given Atletico the lead 12 seconds into the second half but Sergio Alvarez gave the impressive home side a deserved equaliser in the 49th minute. Sporting continued to cause Diego Simeone’s side problems after drawing level and Alvarez missed a gilt-edged chance to put it ahead when he sent a half-volley over the bar from close range.
For the second week in a row, however, Atletico dug deep to rescue the points from an unconvincing display. Antoine Griezmann had a goal harshly ruled out for offside but laid on the pass for Gameiro’s first strike, the former Sevilla player calmly rounding Ivan Cuellar to put Atletico ahead in the 80th.
Gameiro ruthlessly killed off Sporting with two quick-fire strikes, latching on to a pass from Thomas Partey to score in the 81st minute and taking advantage of another through ball from Griezmann to complete his treble.
The Frenchman is the first Atletico player to score a hat-trick in the league as a substitute.
Colombia striker Adrian Ramos scored two goals for Granada to fuel its 4-1 rout of Real Betis on Friday.
Ramos, who hadn’t scored in his previous three matches for Granada, joined Granada in January on loan from Borussia Dortmund. That deal involved a future move to Chinese club Chongqing Dangdai Lifan that will be formalised at the end of the season.
Granada and Chongqing Dangdai Lifan are both owned by Lizhang Jiang, a Shanghai-based businessman, who watched the match from the Los Carmenes Stadium stands while on a visit to the Spanish city.
Following Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez’s opener in the 18th minute, Ramos headed in a second 10 minutes later after Hector Hernandez found him with a cross.
Andreas Pereira added a third before Ramos’ solo effort to finish off his own rebound put the result beyond doubt in the 64th.
The results: La Liga: Saturday: Sporting Gijon 1 (Alvarez 48) lost to Atletico Madrid 4 (Carrasco 46, Gameiro 80, 81, 85).
Friday: Granada 4 (Carcela 18, Ramos 28, 64, Pereira 33) bt Real Betis 1 (Petros 75) . Agencies