Sports

Torres and Griezmann strike for Atletico

Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann celebrates a goal during their Spanish league football match against Las Palmas at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid Sunday. — AFP

MADRID — Atletico Madrid overcame the absence of injured striker Diego Costa to beat struggling Las Palmas 3-0 Sunday, with goals from Antoine Griezmann, Fernando Torres and Thomas Partey, to go eight points behind Liga leader Barcelona. Atletico went into the game with its confidence knocked down a peg by its King's Cup elimination to Sevilla in midweek and its disappointing draw at home to Girona in its previous league outing, but in the end it had too much quality for Las Palmas, which is 19th in the league standings. The visiting side deployed a high defensive line and although it managed to cause Atletico problems it paid the price for its risky approach when Griezmann latched on to a rolled pass from Juanfran to race unchallenged toward goal and score in the 61st minute. Griezmann had hit the post twice before scoring and was the catalyst for the second goal, intercepting a pass high up the pitch to help work the ball towards Torres, who beat a defender before producing a confident finish high into the net. Partey nudged a Yannick Carrasco pass into an empty net in the 88th. Atletico took advantage of Valencia's defeat to Real Madrid to move six points clear in second place and it trails Barcelona by eight, although the Catalans can restore its lead to 11 if it beats Alaves at home later Sunday.

Leverkusen goes second

Winger Leon Bailey showed why Arsenal and Chelsea are reportedly tracking him with another stunning goal in Bayern Leverkusen's 2-0 win over Mainz Sunday in the Bundesliga. Bailey, 20, gave Leverkusen the lead at the BayArena when he hit the back of the net from 20 metres with a left-footed strike. There was nothing on when Bailey looked up on the edge of the area, but his shot across goal gave Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner no chance three minutes into the second half. After also scoring last weekend with an audacious backheel, it was his eighth league goal this season. Leverkusen could ask Chelsea or Arsenal for double the 13.5 million euros ($17.8 million) they paid Belgian club Genk for Bailey in January 2017. However, the German side has ruled out selling him in January's transfer window and the Jamaican is under contract until June 2022. It was the latest eye-catching display from Bailey who scored and created a goal in last weekend's 4-1 thrashing of Hoffenheim. Leverkusen made sure of the three points against struggler Mainz when Brazilian left-back Wendell converted a 68th-minute penalty, after Mainz defender Giulio Donati brought down striker Lucas Alario. The win sees Leverkusen climb to second, 16 points behind runaway league leader Bayern Munich, who thrashed Hoffenheim 5-2 at home Saturday. VfB Stuttgart sacked coach Hannes Wolf Sunday, after Saturday's 2-0 defeat by third-placed Schalke saw it slip to 15th in the table. — AFP