Following a scrappy start to the contest, Atlético produced a moment of quality to open the scoring in the 18th minute. Antoine Griezmann fooled the Almería defence, leaving Geoffrey Kondogbia’s pass to find the run of Ángel Correa, who coolly slid the ball under Fernando Martínez. Within two minutes of conceding the opener, Almería created a promising opportunity, but with the angle against him, Sergio Akieme was unable to keep his powerful strike on target.
Just after the half-hour mark, Fernando reacted superbly to deny Mario Hermoso from Griezmann’s inswinging corner. From the resulting rebound, the ball was laid back to Marcos Llorente, and his curling effort looked destined to find the net, however, his strike was guided home by an offside Geoffrey Kondogbia, ensuring the lead remained a slender one. The visitors were made to rue that moment, as Almería equalised eight minutes before half-time when Lucas Robertone's menacing delivery was met by El Bilal Touré, whose diving header flew past a helpless Jan Oblak.
After the interval, Griezmann had a couple of chances to restore Atléti’s lead, but he could not find a way past the Almería goalkeeper. While the visitors had to be wary of the threat posed by Almería, Diego Simeone’s side continued to create openings to win the game, with substitute Álvaro Morata spurning two opportunities in quick succession. Unmarked at the back post, Morata nodded the ball woefully wide, and moments later, his low shot was smartly saved by Fernando. The Almería stopper was required once again to thwart Correa from close-range, and Atlético’s inability to find a winner spilt over into frustration, demonstrated by Sergio Reguilón’s late sending off for a second bookable offence.
While the hosts move three points clear of the drop zone, Atlético climb into the top-four, but one point from their last three away league games will do little to inspire optimism.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Fernando Martínez (Almería)
