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Football: Atlético Madrid beats Marseille 3-0 to win third Europa
League title
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May 19, 2018
Original URL: https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Football:_Atl%C3%A9tico_Madrid_beats_Marseille_3-0_to_win_third_Europa_League_title
On Wednesday, Spanish capital football club Atlético Madrid defeated
French team Olympique de Marseille 3 -- 0 to win the UEFA Europa League
Final at the Stade de Lyon, in France. French striker Antoine Griezmann
scored a brace (two goals in one game), one goal in each half, and
Atlético's captain Gabi netted the third goal a few minutes before the
final whistle as Atlético won the UEFA Europa League for the third
time. This was Marseille's third defeat in three Europa League or UEFA
Cup finals, never netting a single goal in the final.
[[File:Antoine Griezmann - Cd R - RM v ATL (edited) -
1.jpg|thumb|left|File photo of Antoine Griezmann who scored twice and
won Man of the Match
([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en CC BY 2.0])
Marseille had greater ball possession and better passing accuracy.
Marseille were awarded three free-kicks in the first ten minutes of the
match. The French side created several chances in the first half but
failed to convert any into a goal. Around the 20th minute, Marseille's
André Zambo Anguissa lost the ball, as Madrid's captain Gabi assisted
Griezmann who opened the scoring with his left foot. A couple of minutes
later, a referee made the first booking of the match. Atlético's Šime
Vrsaljko received a yellow card for a bad foul. Just after the half-hour
mark, Marseille's midfielder Dimitri Payet was injured and replaced by
Maxime Lopez. Payet has provided 22 assists in all competitions this
season. The first half ended in a 1 -- 0 lead for the Spanish side.
Marseille's Jordan Amavi was the second player to receive a yellow card.
At the beginning of the second half, Vrsaljko was replaced by Juanfran
due to injury. Less than five minutes into the second half, Frenchman
Griezman doubled the lead, scoring another left-footed goal, assisted by
Koke. Koke also assisted Gabi in the 89th minute, who scored his first
goal for Atlético since August 2015. 34-year-old Gabi became the oldest
player to score a goal in a Europa final. Fernando Torres was
substituted for Griezmann in the 90th minute. Marseille committed
eighteen fouls in the match, twice as many as their opponents. Madrid's
goalkeeper Jan Oblak acheived his seventh clean sheet in this season's
European competitions -- UEFA Champions League and Europa League.
Griezmann was awarded the Man of the Match award. After winning the
match, Griezmann said, "I've been working to experience such a moment
for many years". Marseille's defender Adil Rami said, "The final step
was too far for us but we fought for everything. We lacked experience.
Against a team like this you shouldn't try to play football. You need to
knock it long and high and win second balls. When you try to play and
lose the ball against them, that's when you're in trouble. The opening
goal we conceded was the turning point. Up until then we had troubled
their defence."
Previously, Atlético won the Europa League in 2010 and 2012. This was
the second Europa league victory for the ''Rojiblancos'' under Diego
Simeone's management. Atlético has also reached two UEFA Champions
League finals under Simeone's management losing both to their city
rivals Real Madrid.
----
Luiz Gustavo
Clinton N'Jie
|goals2=Antoine Griezmann
Antione Griezmann
Gabi
Šime
Vrsaljko
Lucas Hernández
|stadium= Stade de Lyon, Lyon, France
|attendance= 55,768
|referee= Björn Kuipers (Netherlands)
}}
== Sources ==
* http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2018/matches/round=2000895/match=2022218/postmatch/report/index.html
* https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/44113764
* http://en.atleticodemadrid.com/noticias/griezmann-is-the-uel-final-man-of-the-match-2
.