Atlético loses at Mallorca before Man City CL decider

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Atlético Madrid lost 1-0 at Mallorca in the Spanish league on Saturday as Diego Simeone’s side stumbled again after its defeat at Manchester City.

Atlético will now have to regroup before it hosts City on Wednesday needing to overturn a 1-0 first-leg loss to Pep Guardiola’s side to reach the Champions League semifinals.

Mallorca forward Vedat Muriqi scored the game’s only goal in the 68th minute when he converted a penalty kick earned by Pablo Maffeo after he was fouled by Reinildo Mandava. Muriqi rifled the penalty into the top right corner, well beyond the reach of goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

Atlético, which had been playing its best soccer of the season until recently, generated very little in attack as its run of six straight victories in the domestic league came to an end. Atlético was left in fourth place.

“Surely the game (at City) took its toll, we were a bit tired and didn’t play the game we wanted to,” Oblak said. “Now we have to play City again and we will have to do more to win the game on Wednesday.”

Mallorca midfielder Iddrisu Baba had to be carried off on a stretcher in stoppage time after he was hit in the head by a ball powerfully struck by Thomas Lemar.

Mallorca ended a run of seven consecutive losses, including a 1-0 defeat to Getafe in coach Javier Aguirre’s debut last round. The Balearic Island club escaped the relegation zone, with Cádiz taking its place in the bottom three after losing 2-1 to fifth-place Real Betis.

VILLARREAL ROTATES

Unai Emery rested all his starters from Villarreal’s 1-0 victory over Bayern Munich in a 1-1 draw with Athletic Bilbao, as the coach prioritized his team’s second meeting with the German giant.

Emery only sent on first-choice strikers Gerard Moreno and Arnaut Danjuma, along with three other regular starters, after an hour.

Villarreal left back Alfonso Pedraza canceled out Raúl García’s opener for Bilbao in the 60th.

Villarreal, which stayed in seventh place, visits Munich on Tuesday.

SUBSTITUTES RESPOND

Betis substitutes Cristian Tello and Borja Iglesias scored to lead the comeback at Cádiz and move one point behind Atlético and third-place Barcelona.

Manuel Pellegrini sent on Iglesias and Tello after Iván Alejo put Cádiz ahead in the 58th. Tello equalized in the 78th before Iglesias earned and scored a penalty for the winner with five minutes remaining.

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