Rayo Vallecano’s Pep Chavarria in action with Atletico Madrid’s Marcos.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Goals from Alexander Sorloth, Conor Gallagher and Julian Alvarez powered Atletico Madrid to a 3-0 home win over city rivals Rayo Vallecano on Thursday, strengthening their grip on third place in LaLiga.

With their league title hopes all but over after a 1-0 loss at Las Palmas, Diego Simeone’s side bounced back to move up to 66 points, six clear of fourth-placed Athletic Bilbao.

“It was a pretty entertaining match with attacking play and dangerous chances for both teams, which I’m sure we could have handled better,” coach Simeone told reporters.

“In the second half, the team played with more order. The play that led to the third goal was exquisite.”

Sorloth opened the scoring just three minutes in, heading home Giuliano Simeone’s cross at the far post, and the Norwegian nearly doubled his tally four minutes later, only to be denied by Rayo goalkeeper Augusto Batalla.

Gallagher then rose highest to nod in a pinpoint delivery from Rodrigo De Paul and double the lead shortly before the break, while Alvarez sealed the win in the 77th minute with a tidy finish from substitute Antoine Griezmann’s fine assist.

“I am happy on a personal level. I try to improve every day. I don’t look at statistics,” said striker Alvarez, who has scored 27 goals in all competitions this season.

“We have to keep working… We know it’s not easy (to win the league) we’re a long way behind in the standings. We’re focusing on ourselves.”

The visitors threatened before halftime and continued to press throughout the second half, but efforts from Isi Palazon and Alvaro Garcia were denied by Jan Oblak, whose sharp saves proved vital in keeping Atletico’s clean sheet.

The defeat leaves Rayo 11th with 41 points, five away from European spots.

“Despite the result, I think Rayo fans can feel proud,” Rayo forward Palazon said. “We lacked a cutting edge in front of goal. We had our chances. They have great goalkeeper.

“We are ambitious. We show it. We have to keep going.”

KKR’s Moeen Ali feels the team can turn things around.
| Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR

KKR all-rounder Moeen Ali said on Friday his team must nurture a positive mindset like that of Mumbai Indians to bounce back against Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League at the Eden Gardens here.

On the eve of the match, Moeen said, “If you look at Mumbai for example, they had a bit of a bad start, now they’ve won four in a row and they’re flying. So we also need to have that same mindset and do the same thing to win most of our matches. It’s going to take a lot of determination, belief for us to do that.”

“We’re in a situation where you can’t feel sorry for yourself, you have to go out and not be afraid to play how you want to play…there’s plenty of batting but still (we should) not rely on other players to do the work you have to do as a batter, to do the finishing job.”

Reflecting on KKR’s away defeat to PBKS, Moeen said, “Tomorrow is going to be a real test because obviously it was only two matches ago we had a collapse against these guys, but in the same match we bowled them out very cheaply and we were in a position to win. You never forget, but it is just learning.”

Remembering PBKS’ successful chase against KKR at the Eden last year, PBKS spin bowling coach Sunil Joshi said, “I had good memories of chasing 262. So, hopefully we will have similar news.”