Soccer Football - LaLiga - Atletico Madrid v Almeria - Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain - December 10, 2023 Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann scores their first goal before getting ruled out after a VAR review REUTERS/Susana Vera
MADRID (Reuters) - Atletico Madrid beat Almeria 2-1 on Sunday with first half goals from Alvaro Morata and Angel Correa, extending the bottom side's winless streak in LaLiga to 16 games.
The victory moved Atletico to third, level with Barcelona on 34 points and five points behind league leaders Real Madrid.
Antoine Griezmann had a goal ruled out for offside by VAR but he helped his side take the lead in the 17th minute when he won the ball high up the pitch before he found Morata, who dribbled into the box and rounded the goalkeeper to score.
Correa doubled the lead five minutes later when Marcos Llorente provided the cross from out wide for the Argentine forward to tap in from close range, another goal-scoring move that was orchestrated by Griezmann.
Almeria halved the deficit through Leo Baptistao who scored just after the hour-mark when the Brazilian forward pounced on a loose ball after Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak made a save.
Almeria, the only LaLiga side yet to win a game this season, had their chances in the second half to steal a point, but Oblak stood firm to deny the visitors as Diego Simeone's side returned to winning ways after losing to Barcelona last weekend.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
