Torres puts Atletico on top

MADRID: Atletico Madrid joined Barcelona and Real Madrid as the only teams in the Primera Liga with 100% records after striker Fernando Torres helped them to a 2-0 win over Albacete on Sunday. 

The Spanish international gave Atletico the lead in the 85th minute with a fine opportunist strike and made a second for teammate Ariel Ibagaza on the stroke of full-time after a dazzling individual run. 

THE MASTERMIND: Atletico Madrid’s Fernando Torres celebrates his goalagainst Albacete in their Spanish First Division match on Sunday. AtleticoMadrid won 2-0. – AFPpic

The win means that after two games Atletico lead the fledgling table, level on six points with Barcelona and Real Madrid who maintained their perfect start to the season with victories over Sevilla and Numancia on Saturday. 

Earlier Deportivo Coruna slumped to a surprise 3-1 home defeat against Osasuna on Sunday after the visitors fought back from a goal down and a sending-off to claim their first Primera Liga win of the season. 

New signing Savo Milosevic weighed in with two classy strikes in the second half to give the Navarrans their first league victory at the Riazor and leave Deportivo with work to do before next week’s Champions League match against Olympiakos. 

Espanyol continued their fine start to the season thanks to an emphatic 4-1 win at out-of-sorts Real Betis with Argentine striker Maxi Rodriguez bagging a hat-trick. 

The victory propelled the Catalans into fourth place in the standings, level on four points with four other teams including champions Valencia who drew 2-2 at Athletic Bilbao on Saturday. 

Bernd Schuster’s Levante became the first promoted side to notch a win with a 3-1 victory over Racing Santander. 

Atletico Madrid had Torres to thank for ensuring they made it two wins out of two when he pounced after Albacete defender Miquel Buades failed to deal with a hopeful through ball and kept his head as he rounded the keeper to score. 

Five minutes later he danced his way into the area and laid the ball off to Argentine midfielder Ibagaza, who had time to pick his spot before firing home his side’s second. 

Deportivo took a 19th-minute lead at the Riazor when Uruguayan striker Walter Pandiani guided home a first-time shot from 15 metres after a poor clearance from the Osasuna defence. 

The visitors equalised early in the second half, however, when Australian striker John Aloisi scored from the penalty spot after he had been pushed in the area. 

The Navarrans looked to have blown their chances when defender Jose Izquierdo was dismissed for picking up a second yellow card for an unnecessary foul on Pedro Munitis. 

The setback only spurred them into action, however, and they took the lead five minutes later when the unmarked Milosevic scored from the edge of the area after making a late run to meet a fine pass from midfielder Ludovic Delporte. 

The Serbia and Montenegro international striker clinched victory with a delightful second when he chipped the ball over Depor keeper Jose Molina from 18 metres to take his tally for the season to three. – Reuters