La Liga 2025-26: Atletico climbs to third place with comfortable win in Girona

Atletico Madrid climbed to third place in La Liga on Sunday with an easy 3-0 win over Girona.

Diego Simeone’s team advanced to fourth place, Villarreal, where leader Barcelona will later be guests.

A brilliant strike from distance from Koke, Conor Gallagher’s deflected effort and a late third from Antoine Griezmann saw Atletico move within six points of Barca.

Atletico secured a fourth successive win in all competitions on a relatively simple afternoon at Girona’s Montilivi Stadium.

“I’m proud of the work we did today,” Koke said Movistar.

“The team is taking a step forward and doing the things we need to do.”

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Marcos Llorente made a welcome return to Atletico’s starting line-up after injury, and it didn’t look like Simeone’s team would fall behind against the 18th-place team.

Koke opened the scoring with a vicious strike into the top corner as the ball fell outside the area in front of him, for his 50th Atletico goal.

“I don’t take photos much, I’m more of a rescuer,” Koke admitted.

“But when he was sitting up like that, all I thought about was shooting and luckily he went in.”

Girona almost equalized, but thanks to a spectacular save from Atletico’s Slovenian goalkeeper Jan Oblak, who managed to keep out Axel Witsel’s effort.

The former Atletico man fired towards goal from seven yards out, but Oblak showed lightning-fast reflexes to keep the shot out.

Former Chelsea midfielder Gallagher scored the second before half-time after a slick Atletico move, with his shot deflecting Vitor Reis and going in at the near post.

Oblak made another important save to thwart Alex Moreno with around 15 minutes remaining to maintain Atletico’s two-goal cushion.

Griezmann, now a frequent substitute, rounded off the win by powering home late for his second goal in his last two games.

Published on December 21, 2025