Atlético Madrid squandered a chance to leapfrog Barcelona and Real Madrid to the top of La Liga when a José María Giménez howler gave Deportivo La Coruña an easy equaliser in a 1-1 draw at the Riazor on Friday.
The Uruguay centre-back dithered close to the byline and Lucas Pérez robbed him of the ball and charged towards goal before coolly slotting past Jan Oblak to level the scores with 13 minutes to play, after Tiago had put Atlético in front before half-time.
Atlético, who travel to Kazakhstan to play Astana in the Champions League on Tuesday, are third on 20 points from 10 matches, with Real and Barça on 21 before Saturday’s games at home to promoted Las Palmas and away to Getafe respectively.
Some of Atlético’s new signings, like Jackson Martínez and Yannick Carrasco, have been impressive in recent weeks but it was the midfield stalwart Tiago who fired them ahead in the 34th minute. A loose ball fell to the Portugal international just outside the penalty area and he cracked it into the corner of the net past the Deportivo keeper, German Lux.
They could have extended their lead soon afterwards, as Diego Godín headed against a post at a corner five minutes later and Antoine Griezmann poked the rebound straight into Lux’s hands.
The visitors seemed content to soak up some ineffective Deportivo pressure in the second half without going for the killer blow and were punished for their lack of ambition when Pérez struck the equaliser.
Deportivo, who are sixth ahead of the weekend’s games, came close to taking all three points when the midfielder Fayçal Fajr curled a long-range effort on to the corner of the goal-frame two minutes from time.
“It was an unfortunate passage of play,” the Atlético midfielder Koke told Spanish television. “But we have to carry on and on Tuesday we have a Champions League game we must win. “We come up against some good First Division sides, who have players of quality, and they can beat you or end up drawing which is what happened today.”
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