Sporting Gijon vs. Atletico Madrid: Winners and Losers from La Liga
Atletico Madrid slipped to a 2-1 defeat against Sporting Gijon at El Molinon on Saturday afternoon.
It gives Barcelona the chance to go 11 points clear of the Rojiblancos on Sunday if they beat Villarreal and could essentially end the title race in La Liga.
Antoine Griezmann opened the scoring for Atletico, but late defensive woes led to Antonio Sanabria and Carlos Castro Garcia turning the game on its head.
Here are the winners and losers...
Loser: Diego Simeone
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It is rare that you can point your finger at this man, but the decisions Atletico manager Diego Simeone made against Sporting Gijon were bad ones. The main errors were with his substitutions.
Gabi came on for Angel Correa in the 58th minute, as Simeone tried to protect the one-goal lead Atletico had against a fired-up Sporting side.
He then took off Antoine Griezmann five minutes later, who had opened the scoring with his 25th goal of the season, and brought on Fernando Torres, who did not offer anything.
Simeone's third substitution saw Luciano Vietto come off for Juanfran, in the 76th minute, in another defensive switch.
Not killing the game off with a second goal cost Atletico here.
Winner: Carlos Castro
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Sporting Gijon's forward so nearly fell into the losers' category.
With just a few minutes to go, he fluffed a huge chance to send Sporting 2-1 up, and it looked like he had cost his team some vital points as they bid to stay away from relegation.
Sanabria raced away from Lucas Hernandez, cutting it across the goalkeeper and leaving an empty net for Castro, but his strike bounced back off the crossbar.
But he made amends just moments later, in the 89th minute.
Jony cut the ball back from the left this time, in an almost identical move, but this time Castro rolled home instead of spurning the opening.
Second chances don't come often. Castro took his.
Loser: Jose Gimenez
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Atletico centre-back Jose Gimenez, one of their most important players, could be out injured for a while.
He appeared to injure his hamstring while chasing Antonio Sanabria towards the end of the game.
Gimenez was not allowed back on the pitch after he was taken off, and according to Sport, Atletico will have to wait for further tests on the player to determine the extent of his injury.
The Spanish newspaper wrote: "Atletico will have to wait for further tests to find out the extent of the damage but there is a risk he could miss the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Barcelona at Camp Nou."
That would be a painful blow, especially with Diego Godin already at risk of missing that game.
Winner: Abelardo
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Sporting Gijon moved out of the relegation zone by beating Atletico Madrid.
These were points the manager may not have counted on getting, with the visitors to El Molinon potential title winners. Well, perhaps not any more.
The last time Sporting won a game was away at Valencia at the end of January.
Since then, eight games passed without victory, with the last four in a row all seeing Sporting lose.
In fact, in the last three before the Atletico game, the Asturian side did not even manage to find the net.
But they struck twice against statistically the meanest defence in La Liga, weaker without their "GOG" axis of Godin, Oblak and Gimenez. Godin was out injured, and as discussed, Gimenez could join him.
It wasn't just luck that saw Sporting win this; Abelardo's men were up for the fight and matched their more illustrious rivals all over the pitch, showing great spirit.
Losers: Atletico's Second Strikers
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Atletico have had a history of being able to find great strikers, but at the moment they are struggling.
Nobody seems to be able to play alongside Antoine Griezmann and thrive.
In this game, Fernando Torres, Luciano Vietto and Angel Correa all featured, and none of them managed to find the net.
Watching Vietto in particular, he doesn't look like the same player Atletico pried from Villarreal in the summer.
Griezmann came up with the goods as usual, but he and Atletico need one of these three to step it up, especially if they are to challenge Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.
