Atletico Madrid vs Deportivo La Coruna: Álvarez Settles a Tight Contest

Atletico Madrid against Deportivo La Coruna was decided by a single goal early in the second half, and by a visiting side that did enough to deserve more than they got. Julián Álvarez scored in the 48th minute, and Diego Simeone's team then spent the rest of the afternoon protecting it, which they did with a mixture of resilience and a growing collection of yellow cards.

The pre-match picture pointed one way. Atletico arrived second in the table on 25 points from ten games, while Deportivo sat tenth on 11, and Kickwise's pre-match prediction favoured the home side. The result matched it, but the underlying numbers tell a less comfortable story for the hosts. Deportivo actually finished with the higher expected goals figure (1.73 against 1.49) and put more shots on target, five to four. Atletico had the ball (56% possession) and the volume of attempts (20 to 15), yet the quality of chances was closer to even than a tidy 1-0 suggests.

The tactical contest was a familiar one. Antonio Hidalgo set Deportivo up in a 5-3-2, a compact back five designed to deny Atletico's 4-3-3 space between the lines and force them wide. For much of the match that shape held up, and the visitors' standout performers, J. Giménez and Adrià Alti, both rated 7.2, reflected a defensive effort that kept the margin narrow. It took a moment of incision just after the interval to break it, and that was where Álvarez made the difference, his 8.2 rating the highest on the pitch. Álex Grimaldo, on 8.0, was the other key figure, supplying the width and delivery that a five-man defence is meant to be stretched by.

Once ahead, Atletico leaned on game management more than control. The closing stages were a scramble of cards: Alexander Sørloth in the 85th minute, Alejandro Baena a minute later and Giuliano Simeone a minute after that, on top of Marc Pubill's earlier booking in the 26th. Deportivo had picked up their own two, Yeremay Hernández in the 75th and Giacomo Quagliata in the 79th, as the visitors pushed for an equaliser. That Atletico committed 11 fouls to Deportivo's six fits the pattern of a side defending a lead by breaking up play rather than by holding the ball.

For Atletico it is another three points that keep them close to the top, won without being convincing. For Deportivo, the frustration is that a well-organised display produced chances of roughly the same value as their hosts and still nothing to show for it. Their next test is whether that defensive structure can be paired with a sharper finish, because on this evidence the gap between the two sides was far narrower than the table suggests.