Atletico Madrid sealed top spot in Champions League Group D after second half goals from Frenchmen Kevin Gameiro and Antoine Griezmann gave them a comfortable 2-0 win at home to PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday.
Gameiro broke the deadlock in the 55th minute with an arrowed first-time finish and Griezmann clinched Atletico’s fifth win in five Champions League games with a near post finish in the 66th.
Diego Simeone’s side are the only team in the competition with a 100 percent record in the group stages.
Atletico top Group D with 15 points, six clear of Bayern Munich, who visit them in a fortnight’s time in a game that will have no bearing on the final standings. Rostov are third on four points after beating Bayern 3-2, while PSV are bottom with one.
Hurting from their 3-0 defeat to local rivals Real Madrid on Saturday, Atletico made a strong start.
Yannick Carrasco tore down the right hand side in the seventh minute and his cross found Gameiro, who failed to connect properly with the ball and missed the target, while Diego Godin headed straight at PSV goalkeeper Jeroen Zoet.
PSV defender Jetro Willems, who had made an excellent last ditch challenge to thwart Gameiro, required medical attention following a collision of heads with Zoet and was withdrawn by PSV coach Phillip Cocu at halftime.
Atletico took charge early in the second half, Griezmann releasing Gameiro on the right hand side of the box and the former Sevilla man catching Zoet by surprise with a first time strike into the far corner.
The second goal owed a lot to some aggressive pressing from Tiago Mendes in the final third, the Portuguese playing in Griezmann after swiping the ball from an opponent and enabling the Frenchman to slide in and knock the ball home at Zoet’s near post.
Griezmann nearly teed up Gameiro for the third but the 29-year-old’s header deflected off Zoet and onto the post.
