Atletico Madrid stay in touch thanks to Forlan

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posted on 15 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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Diego Forlan score twice in the second half to help Atletico Madrid.

New Delhi: Atletico Madrid maintained their Champions League hopes as they produced a second half comeback to beat Espanyol with 10 men.

Diego Forlan score twice in the second half to help Atletico Madrid come from two goals down to beat Espanyol and keep their top four aspirations alive after Luis Perea was sent off.

Los Colchoneros needed to win after Valencia's victory against Real Madrid the evening before, but they made hard work of seeing off a spirited and contradictory Espanyol side.

Nene put Espanyol ahead from the penalty spot and Daniel Jarque put them two up soon atfer as Atletico looked to be set for a surprise reverse in the Vicente Calderon.

When Perea was sent off for an horrendous foul on Javi Chica, they seemed to have a mountain to climb, but Forlan inspired a stunning comeback after the break.

Atletico knew that nothing less than all three points would suffice after seeing those above them win this weekend and Villarreal pick up an unexpected point against Barcelona at Camp Nou.

But as is so typical of Abel Resino's team they made hard work of securing the win and looked like being in with no chance at all in a disastrous first half display.

Raul Tamudo limped out of the action after 22 minutes and was missed later in the game, while Ivan de la Pena going off just after the hour mark also caused the visitors to lose their creative spark.

Atletico had their chances in the opening period when Sergio Aguero and Forlan looked to test Carlos Kameni, while John Heitinga also spurned a chance when he shot wide.

Just after the half-hour mark, the game looked to have swung in the visitors' favour when the referee did well to spot Perea's forearm smash on Chica that left the Espanyol defender needing stitches above his eye and swelling across his cheek.

The home fans may have jeered the red card, but they knew that something bad had happened given the state of the Espanyol player's face and they were able to whistle even louder soon after.

Within minutes, Atletico's problems mounted when Mariano Pernia brought down Ivan Alonso in the area and Nene stepped up to hammer home the spot-kick from 12 yards.

Five minutes before the break and Mauricio Pochettino's half-time team talk became even easier when Raul Garcia flicked on Nene's free kick and Jarque ran unmarked at beat Leo Franco by guiding the ball home with his thigh.

Nene could have concluded a great first half for him as he rounded the keeper, but the linesman flag went up and became a predominant feature in the second half.

Eight minutes after the restart, the hosts gave themselves hope of salvaging something from the game as the Uruguayan picked up a pass from Aguero and hammered a stunning shot past Kameni from distance.

The tide was turning and after Simao had gone close the hosts drew level when Pernia's low drive into the area went past everyone except Aguero who met it at the far post and nudged it into the bottom corner.

Espanyol had taken their foot off the pedal and it was difficult to understand why they so frequently were unable to make their numerical superiority tell, although an over zealous linesman raised his flag erroneously on occasion to stop them having a goalscoring chance.

After all their hard work and a man of the match performance from Forlan it was always on the cards that they would clinch a winner and the striker deserved to be the scorer.

In the 93rd minute Simao cut in from the right and stroked a ball into the near post where Forlan ran in to control and then clip it over Kameni before wheeling away to celebrate.