Ten-man Atletico Madrid beat Celto Viga 1-0 in LaLiga on Sunday after second-half substitute Memphis Depay opened his account for the club following his January move with a late winner.
With a draw looking the most likely result after both teams spurned chances, Depay was in the right place at the right time when a blocked shot fell at his feet before the Dutch forward turned and fired on the spot to score in the 89th minute.
Atletico had gone close in the first half with Alvaro Morata seeing his close-range header miss the top corner while at the other end Gabri Veiga had a header from a corner kick fly wide.
Iago Aspas nearly opened the scoring in the second half when his shot from a Celta counter-attack crept under Jan Oblak before the goalkeeper recovered to claw the ball back just as it was about to creep over the goal line.
Atletico was reduced to 10 men in the 70th minute when last man Stefan Savic wrestled Celta forward Haris Seferovic to the ground at the edge of the box when he was through on goal.
It was Savic’s third red card in his last five appearances for Atletico but Diego Simeone’s side earned a reprieve when Aspas’s free kick came off the crossbar.
The result moved fourth-placed Atletico to 38 points to sit within a point of Real Sociedad, which plays Espanyol on Monday. Celta is 13th with 23 points.
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