Atletico Madrid beat Sporting Gijon 4-1 in La Liga on Saturday with four special goals – three of which came from the foot of Kevin Gameiro in the final stages of the game. The result sees Diego Simeone’s men move within just one point off third-placed Sevilla who have a game in hand.
The Rojiblancos had taken the lead within 11 seconds of the second half kicking off via Yannick Carrasco in what was a beautifully worked goal. As soon as the referee blew the whistle, four Atletico players rushed into Sporting’s half before a long ball over the top saw a three-on-one situation where Yannick Carrasco pounced on the ball and took a shot on goal. Although the goalkeeper parried the ball, he was on hand to bundle it in near the goal line to give Simeone’s side the lead.
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But it didn’t take long for Sergio Alvarez to equalise at the other end just three minutes later. Burgui’s cross from the left was volleyed home in spite of a defender on the line and it was game on at El Molinon stadium.
Just after the hour mark, Simeone made two substitutions with Gameiro and Saul Niguez coming on for Fernando Torres and Angel Correa. And 18 minutes later, it was the Kevin Gameiro show.
The first goal was scored in the 80th minute when Antoine Griezmann spotted Gameiro’s diagonal run and slipped a ball through the defence. The former Sevilla forward took one touch to round the goalkeeper and slotted it past him to give Atletico the lead. The clock read 79’34” when the ball found the back of the net.
The second goal came in the 81st minute when Atletico punished Sporting as they tried to play the ball out from the back. Thomas Partey won a 50-50 ball off the defence and the ball fell kindly to Gameiro who took an angled shot that found the far bottom corner. 80’54”.
The third goal came in the 85th minute as Sporting pushed up looking for a goal and Atletico took advantage of the high line. It was Griezmann again who nonchalantly lofted a ball over the defence and Gameiro, playing on the shoulder of the last defender, stayed onside and sprinted past them to find himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper and put away a similar shot to the second. 84’17”.
The time taken to score the hat-trick? 4 minutes and 43 seconds! Three goals. Three points. One incredible milestone for Gameiro.
Update: A previous version of the article said it was the fastest in La Liga based on a tweet by Opta that has since been deleted and corrected. It was, in fact, the fastest in 22 years.
