Despite not playing at their best, Atletico Madrid advanced to the Copa del Rey quarter finals thanks to Marcos Llorente, who scored one goal and provided an assist in a 2-0 victory at Levante.
Despite defeating lower-tier Levante on Wednesday, Diego Simeone's team has only won one of their past six LaLiga contests, and recent troubles were clear.
After Llorente's pass, Morata scored Atletico's first goal on goal in the 54th minute, and the midfielder then calmly completed the comeback with a goal in stoppage time. In order to win the Copa del Rey for the first time since 2013, the LaLiga team is awaiting the announcement of their upcoming opponents in Friday's last-eight draw.
After 25 minutes, Alex Munoz finished into an empty net after Jan Oblak slipped, but the goalkeeper's face was spared because a free-kick was given for Mohamed Bouldini's forceful aerial charge. Soon after, Bouldini's fizzing left-footed attempt went barely over as a lackluster Atletico failed to make an impact on a poor first half.
Antoine Griezmann danced through the middle before finding Marcos Llorente, who rolled across for Morata to finish into the bottom-left corner. However, a touch of class after the restart brought the opening goal.
Bouldini appeared to be in position to score an equalizer when Oblak entered the game, but Atletico's triumph was secured by a sweeping counterattack at the other end.
From inside his own half, Griezmann set up the attack before Nahuel Molina found Llorente, who finished with his right foot past Joan Femenias.
COPA DEL REY IS CRUCIAL TO ATLETI'S PROSPECTS OF WINNING A TROPHY.
Atletico's last chance for trophies now that they are out of Europe, having placed last in Group B of the Champions League and being 13 points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona, is the Copa del Rey.
Simeone's team has defeated Levante, Almazan, Arenteiro, Real Oviedo, and other teams in this competition with reasonable ease but hasn't yet faced a team from the top division.
To win their first Copa del Rey in ten years, Atletico will need to improve, since Real Madrid and Barcelona, who play Ceuta and Villarreal, respectively, on Thursday, are still in the running.
THE GAME IS RUN BY DE PAUL.
Rodrigo De Paul helped Atletico stay in charge despite their lackluster performance.
The Argentina midfielder had the most touches (97) and successful passes (70) of any player and won all five of his duels while playing in his first game since winning the World Cup in Qatar.
BOULDINI'S LIVEWIRE BLUNTED
Bouldini was a consistent dynamo up top, causing trouble for the Mario Hermoso and Stefan Savic center-back tandem at Atletico.
The Levante forward attempted four shots and engaged in an astounding 21 duels, both records for any player. However, despite his tireless efforts, neither he nor Levante were particularly effective in front of goal.
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