La Liga 2023-24: Atletico Madrid breezes past Las Palmas 5-0 with Inter in the horizon

Marcos Llorente and Angel Correa both scored twice to help a depleted Atletico Madrid thrash visitor Las Palmas 5-0 in LaLiga on Saturday, as manager Diego Simeone rested key players ahead of a midweek Champions League last-16 tie at Inter Milan.

Atletico moved up to third place in La Liga on 51 points, level with Barcelona, which plays at Rafa Benitez’s Celta Vigo later on Saturday. It is five points behind Girona and 10 adrift of leader Real Madrid, both of whom have a game in hand.

Despite French forward Antoine Griezmann being on Simeone’s list of rested players, Atletico dominated proceedings and made the most of its chances against a usually solid Las Palmas, which arrived in the capital with the second-best defensive record in La Liga with 20 goals conceded in 24 games, behind only Real Madrid’s 15.

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“What we rehearsed over the last few days went very well. We knew that Las Palmas played the way they always tried to play, and that’s how the first goals came – we robbed them of some balls that we were able to convert,” Correa told DAZN.

“That made the game easier.”

Atletico was relentless in its pressure up front and forced several errors from the Las Palmas defence, who gifted the ball twice early to Correa only for him to miss both times.

However, Llorente didn’t waste the gift given by Kirian Rodriguez with a bad clearance attempt and scored from the rebound in the 14th minute. Six minutes later, after another mistake from the Las Palmas defence, he struck from close range to give the locals a two-goal lead before the break.

Correa was finally on target in the 47th minute, netting a volley from a cross by Koke. He then extended the lead from the penalty spot after Samuel Lino was fouled inside the box, and Memphis Depay came off the bench to add to the scoreline with a strike in the 87th minute.

For Atletico, the result will be a confidence booster before it travels to face an in-form Inter, which leads Serie A by 10 points from second-placed Juventus.

“It’s going to be a very difficult challenge, but we hope to play a great game together and bring back a good result,” Correa told DAZN.