Atlético Madrid 2 - Numancia 0

Atlético: Leo Franco; Velasco, Perea, Pablo, Sergi; Jorge (Braulio 83'), Marcelo Sosa; Paunovic (Colsa 61'), Ibagaza (Salva 50'), Antonio López; Fernando Torres. 4-2-3-1.
Numancia: Juanma; Pignol (Pineda 66'), Otxoa, Antonio, Jaime Molina, Graff (Juanlu 75'); Velasco, Pablo Sanz, Juan Carlos Moreno; Osorio, Tevenet (Carlos Merino 66'). 5-3-2.

Team changes: Atlético: Ibagaza for Aguilera / Numancia: Pignol, Graff, Velasco for Juanpa, Miguel Pérez, Juanlu.

Goals:
1-0. 51. Pablo. Got on the end of Antonio López cross to head wide of Juanma.
2-0. 77. Fernando Torres. Turned ball in on far post from Antonio López free kick.

Atlético Madrid beat Numancia 2-0 on Sunday evening to move back up to sixth place in the table. It was a relatively comfortable win for César Ferrando's side, although the first chance came from the visitors when Leo Franco turned away a long free kick from Tevenet. After that though it was monotonous trail of forays into the visitors' half, with ex Atlético keeper Juanma keeping out efforts from Paunovic and Fernando Torres and other efforts going wide.

The first goal came six minutes after the break, Pablo Ibáñez heading Antonio López's cross wide of the keeper. The Numancia players surrounded referee González Vázquez to protest that Salva (who had just come on for the limping Ibagaza) had fouled a defender in the build up, but their appeals were turned down.

Osorio had a chance to equalise but he headed wide, as did Salva at the other end soon afterwards. But with a quarter of an hour to go Fernando Torres got on the end of a long Antonio López free kick to volley the ball in on the far post, again the referee waving away appeals from the defenders for offside. López was sent off near the end for a foul from behind on Juanlu, but by then the game was over. The result leaves Numancia back at the bottom of the table.