:Striker Alexander Sorloth scored a brace as Atletico Madrid secured an easy 4-0 win at second-tier side Elche on Wednesday to book Diego Simeone’s team a spot in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals.
It was Atletico’s 15th consecutive victory in all competitions, extending the longest winning streak in club history after Simeone broke his own record of 13 wins from 2012.
Atletico didn’t miss a beat despite their Argentine manager deciding to rest several key starters at an in-form Elche, who were unbeaten since early in November, winning six of their last seven games.
With the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Julian Alvarez, Rodrigo de Paul and Jan Oblak on the bench, Atletico dominated proceedings and were never in danger, showing the same solidity in defence and effectiveness up-front that has lifted them to the top of the LaLiga standings, ahead of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Sorloth struck home a loose ball from close range to open the scoring in the eighth minute, taking advantage of a bad mistake by Elche’s defence who failed twice to clear a Marcos Llorente cross from their own penalty area.
He extended Atletico’s lead from the penalty spot after winger Samuel Lino was fouled inside the box by defender Bambo Diaby in the 29th minute.
Elche were reduced to ten men when Nico Mercau received a second booking for a tactical foul on Rodrigo Riquelme to stop an Atletico counter in the 50th minute.
Substitute Riquelme scored the third with a long-range strike in the 61st, with Alvarez also coming off the bench to wrap up the win 14 minutes later, finishing from close range after goalkeeper Miguel San Roman failed to punch clear a De Paul cross.
“I am cautious about saving players’ energy. We had to win to go through and I trusted players who I thought could give us the chance to continue in the same vein as the team,” Simeone told TVE.
“I told them before the game that they’ve been working very well and that’s why we understood that the team that started gave us the option of going through. We played with humility against a team that plays well in the second division.
“I felt good energy within the team. Luckily those players were able to show work, effort, humility, perseverance, accepting the place they have within the team. That will make us compete better and it will make it difficult for me to choose moving forward.”
Atletico joined Barcelona in the quarter-finals, after they thrashed Betis 5-1 earlier on Wednesday. Getafe, who finished the game with nine men, beat fourth-tier Pontevedra 1-0 while Leganes fought back to knock Spanish second division leaders Almeria out with a 3-2 victory.
After Valencia knocked out third-tier side Ourense 2-0 on Tuesday, the Copa del Rey quarter-finals will feature eight teams from LaLiga as Athletic Bilbao will face Osasuna and Real Sociedad play Rayo Vallecano in the two remaining last-16 matches on Thursday.
