GRAN CANARIA: Kirian Rodriguez and Benito Ramirez scored to lead Las Palmas to a 2-1 La Liga victory over Atletico Madrid on Friday, handing Atletico their first loss in 10 games in all competitions.

Las Palmas climbed one spot into ninth in the table on 17 points after their fou­rth victory in five league games. Atletico, who had won their previous six lea­g­ue games, are third with 25 points, just three points behind leaders Real Madrid.

Captain Rodriguez had the Estadio Gran Canaria fans roaring with his 51st-minute goal from just outside the box after an exquisite dummy by Javi Munoz. Ramirez doubled their lead in the 75th minute after the home side pressured Atlet­ico to give up the ball in their own half.

Alvaro Morata pulled one back to give Atletico a lifeline in the 83rd minute when Rodrigo Riquelme sent in a long cross that Mor­ata fired home from close range, but Las Palmas held on.

“Promotion lets you play matches of this calibre, against teams and players like this, and I think Canarian players, when you work them up a bit, when they see that (the opponent) is better than them, this streak comes out and they want to compete,” Kirian told Movistar. “Everybody is a hero, all the fans, look at the atmosphere, look at the desire we had for a match like this, we showed the team can compete.”

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2023