Atletico Madrid rise to fourth spot after thrashing Eibar 2-0

Atletico Madrid snatched three precious points by defeating Eibar 2-0 in the 17th round of La Liga football to jump to fourth in the standings.

Eibar dominated the first half and was almost first on the scoreboard at Ipurua Municipal Stadium here on Saturday, but a deft save saved the day for Atletico, reports Efe.

After that the game remained deadlocked at 0-0 until the 54th minute, when Spanish defender Saul Niguez kicked off the scoring for Atletico.

Twenty minutes later, Frenchman Antoine Griezmann scored the second goal to foil Eibar's attempts to catch up.

After this victory, Atletico are fourth in La Liga with 31 points, while Eibar hold eighth position with 23 points.

Real Madrid, who thrashed Granada 5-0 on Saturday, lead with 40 points, while FC Barcelona come second with 34 points, just one point ahead of third-placed Sevilla.

--IANS

sam/vt