Atletico dropped two more points in the title race in a hard-fought draw with Villarreal

Atletico Madrid dropped two points in the title race in a hard-fought draw with Villarreal. Samuel Lino's strike after 58 minutes pulled Diego Simeone's side level after Villarreal took the lead through a Gerard Moreno first-half penalty at the Metropolitano stadium.
Simeone began with key players Antoine Griezmann and Rodrigo de Paul on the bench, rotating his side after their draining Champions League comeback win against Bayer Leverkusen in midweek.
Atletico, looking to bounce back from last weekend's defeat by minnows Leganes which snapped a 15-match winning streak across all competitions, found it hard to break down the fifth-place visitors in the first half.
Villarreal took the lead against the run of play when Reinildo Mandava brought down Moreno in the area. Veteran Spain international Moreno dusted himself down and beat Jan Oblak from the spot.
Atletico pulled level before the hour mark when Lino bundled home at the back post after Angel Correa's improvised backheel effort was deflected by Luiz Junior into his path. "We found the draw, we took the game to a place where we could have won it, but it wasn't possible," said Simeone. "We will continue on our path, going game by game."