Again clinging to the finesse of Luis Suárez, Atlético defended the leadership under pressure.
On his 34th birthday, the Uruguayan executed a fine shot to the corner that he entered after hitting the base of the post to culminate the rojiblanca comeback.
A lofty hit that entered where the cows graze, as the classics say.
A goal that ended up straightening a team that gave the blow of authority in the second half after a gray first.
After the noise of three consecutive substitutions, Simeone granted the title to João Félix.
And the departure of Atlético responded to the revolutions with which the Portuguese entered the field.
The first ball he touched was a run-and-control maneuver that he sped off with a right hand that narrowly missed.
A header from Giménez in a corner, to which Jaume responded agile with a good hand, culminated the initial bubbling of the leader.
From there, Valencia won.
ATM
3
-
1
VAL
AtléticoOblak, Giménez, Savic, Mario Hermoso, Carrasco, Lemar (Lucas Torreira, min. 84), Vrsaljko (Renan Augusto, min. 45), Marcos Llorente (Kondogbia, min. 74), Koke, João Félix (Correa, min. 61) and Luis SuárezValenciaJaume, Mouctar Diakhaby (Hugo Guillamón, min. 46), Gabriel Paulista, Gayá, Thierry Correia, Cheryshev (Gonçalo Guedes, min. 57), Carlos Soler, Uros Racic (Koba Koindredi, min. 79), Yunus Musah (Jason, min. 78), Manu Vallejo (Gameiro, min. 78) and Maxi Gómez
Goals0-1 min.
10: Uros Racic.
1-1 min.
22: João Félix.
2-1 min.
53: Luis Suarez.
3-1 min.
71: Strap.
Referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea Yellow cards Vrsaljko (min. 29) and Savic (min. 75)
He emerged first with the order that Javi Gracia usually endows his teams.
Later, with a daring and well-studied handling of the game.
Their two midfielders, Racic and Soler, were very clear that Atlético's holes could be in what Musah and Cheryshev did to Vrsaljko and Carrasco and in what Maxi Gómez and Manu Vallejo importunate the rojiblancos central team.
He already warned Oblak with a hard shot at the near post after breaking Savic with a change of pace before Racic drew one of the goals of the season.
A superb hit from 30 meters with the inside of the left leg, which in addition to having it touched, is not his.
The thread described a parable that ended in Oblak's square.
The goal put the leader under pressure, already aware of the victories of his two pursuers in the table.
Simeone's team couldn't find the way to the duel.
Too slow in the circulations when not imprecise by precipitating the vertical game.
Atlético plunged into a long stretch of flat and nondescript game.
One more sequel that his football has declined in recent weeks.
They did not fuel Koke and Hermoso, the two in charge of the team flowing from behind.
It did not break Llorente, who missed Trippier once again.
Nor did Lemar help to clean up and sharpen his team.
With no arguments to dismantle Valencia, Atlético found themselves tied in a corner kick.
Koke put a thread passed to the far post and João Félix appeared there to put the iron in the air in an acrobatic foreshortening that Correia did not know about.
The equalizer drove an Atlético more plugged, but without finishing doing damage.
Valencia hardly suffered until the break.
A more convinced, determined and retouched leader came out of the booth.
Vrsaljko's holes and the yellow one he harvested in the first half left him in the shower.
Lodi entered and Carrasco passed to the right.
The Belgian was the one who led the first attacks.
He wriggled, leaked passes and fired.
His match in the second act was greater.
By deployment and imbalance.
He has reached a regularity that has made him another untouchable for Simeone.
The competition
The firework was continued by the play of the goal by Luis Suárez.
What started in a stumbled play at the exit of the ball in the vicinity of Oblak led to a perfect sequence signed by Hermoso.
He broke the first pressure line of Valencia with a wall and kept running into space.
The second he received he turned and put a 40-meter pass for João Félix's run down the left.
The Portuguese drove until Luis Suárez broke in the area.
And there, the Uruguayan, without an angle, got a fine touch of billiards.
The sibylline cross shot overtook Jaume and entered after hitting the base of the post.
There was no more space than that for the Uruguayan to already sign a dozen goals in this championship.
It seems that Suarez does nothing and does everything.
He is a hidden threat, always ready to deliver the coup de grace.
Already in advantage, Simeone sat João Félix and gave entry to Correa.
Fierce competition is expected between the two and Lemar.
The Argentine did not disappoint, who in this team is being decisive when he starts and when not.
It culminated one of those cons that excite Simeone.
A couple of short touches to attract the rival after a recovery, a filtered pass from Carrasco for the Llorente locomotive and the center behind him holed by Correa.
A final blow.
