Atlético de Madrid, champion of the Europa League in 2010 and 2012, returned to this competition after playing the Champions League in recent seasons and did so with a valuable 4-1 victory in Denmark against Copenhagen, this Thursday in the first leg of the round of 16.
This success in the Danish cold allows Diego Simeone's team to face the second leg next week with a lot of guarantees, in a tournament they started playing as a consolation after being eliminated in the group stage of the Champions League, where they finished third in their group.
Atlético did not start well, as they conceded a goal from Copenhagen, scored by Viktor Fischer in the 15th minute. But with Ángel Correa as a starter, they quickly recovered: in the 21st minute, Saúl Ñíguez headed in a cross from Frenchman Antoine Griezmann, and in the 37th minute, Kevin Gameiro converted a pass from Lucas Hernández.
In the second half, Atlético completed their rout. The third goal for the Madrid team came in the 71st minute, with a cross-shot from Griezmann on a counterattack, assisted by Belgian Yannick Carrasco, while Vitolo (77), who found a rebound in the area, sent a shot between three opponents to score the fourth goal.
"I am satisfied with the overall performance. We went for the game from the beginning and did not change our path after their goal," applauded Simeone.
The last time Atlético visited Copenhagen, there was also a Spanish victory, with a 2-0 win in the 2007-2008 UEFA Cup, the previous name of the Europa League.
In this way, Atlético de Madrid leaves the qualification for the Europa League round of 16 very much on track, which will allow them to face the weekend with tranquility, where they will try to get back into the fight for the league title.
The colchoneros are the only ones who somewhat resist the pace of the leader, Barcelona, who has 7 points more. Barcelona visits Eibar on Saturday, and Atlético de Madrid will host Athletic Bilbao, another Europa League team, on Sunday at the Wanda Metropolitano.
In addition, Argentine Marcos Acuña started in the victory of his team, Sporting Lisbon, from Portugal, over Astana, from Kazakhstan, by 3-1 as visitors.
These were the other results of the day: Nice (Walter Benítez) 2-3 Lokomotiv; Borussia Dortmund 3-2 Atalanta (Alejandro 'Papu' Gómez); Ludogorets 0-3 Milan (Lucas Biglia); Olympique de Marseille (Lucas Ocampos) 3-0 Sporting Braga; Ostersunds 0-3 Arsenal; Real Sociedad (Gerónimo Rulli) 2-2 RB Salzburg; Spartak Moscow 1-3 Athletic Bilbao; Celtic 1-0 Zenit (Matías Kranevitter, Sebastián Driussi, Leandro Paredes and Emiliano Rigoni); AEK (Sergio Araujo) 1-1 Dynamo Kiev; Steaua Bucharest 1-0 Lazio; Lyon 3-1 Villarreal; Partizan 1-1 Viktoria Plzen; Napoli 1-3 RB Leipzig.
Source: AFP and Télam