Atletico de Madrid 7 - 1 Granada CF: Yannick Carrasco nets hat-trick as Atletico Madrid smack seven

Posted Sunday, October 16, 2016 by PA

A hat-trick from Belgian winger Yannick Carrasco helped Atletico Madrid recover from the shock of conceding an early goal to hammer Granada 7-1 at the Vicente Calderon.

Isaac Cuenca's smart volley briefly put the unbeaten start of Diego Simeone's side in jeopardy but a mistake by Granada goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa paved the way for Carrasco's first, and his second gave them the half-time lead.

His third killed off the hopes of Granada, who remain rooted to the bottom of LaLiga, but it swiftly became an embarrassing rout as substitute Nico Gaitan grabbed a brace with Angel Correa and Tiago also on target in an accomplished Atletico display.

Atleti got a shock to the system in the 18th minute when Cuenca's first touch teed him up for a right-foot volley from the edge of the area which caught Jan Oblak off-guard.

It could have been even worse as Ezequiel Ponce got goalside of Diego Godin but Stefan Savic saved the day with a covering tackle to prevent the Granada forward going clear.

Ochoa made a smart save to deny Correa but was horribly at fault for Atletico's 34th-minute equaliser.

Antoine Griezmann's weak header from a corner caused the Mexican far more problems than it should have. He flapped at it and the ball broke to Carrasco, who drilled home through a forest of legs.

Carrasco put Atletico ahead just before half-time, receiving possession from Correa on the left of the box and beating Ochoa with a deflected right-foot shot.

Atletico took the game beyond the Andalusians with two goals in two minutes just after the hour. First Carrasco completed his treble, thumping in a right-foot shot after Griezmann raced down the right and cut the ball back into his path, and then Gaitan scored with his first touch after coming on as substitute.

Correa's shot was blocked by Ochoa's body but Gaitan, who had replaced Kevin Gameiro moments earlier, used his left foot to steer in the rebound.

Gaitan added his second with nine minutes to go, despatching a low shot past the helpless Ochoa before Correa made it six when he regained possession from Ruben Vezo and angled a shot past Ochoa's left hand.

Tiago added a seventh with three minutes left, emphatically blasting a left-foot shot high into the net as Carrasco squared the ball to him after his initial effort was charged down.