clinical atlético grind down malmö ardour published: tuesday 4 november 2014, 22.50cet malmö ff 0-2 club atlético de madrid the swedish champions managed twice as many shots as the visitors but deadly finishes from koke and raúl garcía earned atleti the points.
• raúl garcía (78) seals third successive group a victory for atlético • just as he did in the 5-0 win in the reverse two weeks ago, koke breaks the deadlock • markus rosenberg hits the post nine minutes after half-time • malmö manage 12 shots to the visitors' six • next games: atlético v olympiacos, malmö v juventus (26 november)
club atlético de madrid withstood a concerted effort from malmö ff as a pair of clinical finishes in each half earned the visitors a hard-fought 2-0 uefa champions league win.
two weeks after succumbing 5–0 at atlético, a regrouped malmö dominated large swathes of the return without ever quite getting their reward. they had chances either side of koke's 30th-minute strike, especially in a frenetic spell after half-time. the group a leaders bided their time, however, and sealed the points through raúl garcía 12 minutes from the end.
malmö ended with shoulders slumped but they ought to have heads held high after a fine performance bearing little resemblance to a fortnight ago. roles were reversed even when it came to style of play. atlético went for the long ball, while malmö were keen to keep it on the ground. the early opportunities went to the spanish team, though, with robin olsen doing well to keep out erik johansson's miscued header and raúl garcía's attempt.
atlético finally found the net on the half-hour in a move that began with miranda dispossessing markus rosenberg deep in the atlético half. a swift attack down the right followed, and juanfran's cross was met expertly by koke to make it 1-0 to the visitors. roused by the partisan crowd, malmö responded brilliantly.
a poor first touch let emil forsberg down before the interval but there was nothing wrong with anton tinnerholm's soon after, the right-back hitting a volley that beat miguel ángel moyà but not diego godín on the goal line. rosenberg then went even closer after his free-kick came back off the atlético wall, smashing the post with a sumptuous volley.
so near yet so far. raúl garcía extended the lead with a crisp strike and cristian rodríguez thought he had added another late on but was denied by the assistant referee's flag. for malmö, even 2-0 was hard to swallow.
