Alvaro Morata poked fun at VAR after scoring his first goal for Atletico Madrid on Sunday as Barcelona's closest challengers kept up the chase with a 2-0 win over Villarreal. Since joining Atletico on loan from Chelsea last month, Morata has twice had goals ruled out by VAR so when this one finally stood at the Wanda Metropolitano, he celebrated by imitating a referee putting a finger to his ear. Saul Niguez added a late second for Atletico, whose victory means they reduce the gap behind Barca to seven points at the top of La Liga. Real Madrid, now five behind their city rivals, play Levante later on Sunday. Morata's first league goal in almost four months was a deserved reward for another lively performance, which followed up his excellent display off the bench in the midweek win over Juventus.
After having one headed goal ruled out, Morata teed up Jose Gimenez's opener against Juve and his contribution was enough to earn him a start ahead of Diego Costa, who replaced his fellow Spaniard in the second half. The pair's jostle for the position as partner-in-chief to Antoine Griezmann looks set to give Diego Simeone a headache in the coming weeks but Atleti's coach will be relieved that momentum has been sustained after such a memorable night in the Champions League.
Atletico's deficit behind Barcelona may yet prove impossible to make up but they still have to play the Catalans at the Camp Nou in April and the challenge in the meantime will be at least to stay in touch.
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