Atletico Madrid produced a three-goal blitz in the first half to claim a 3-1 home win over Besiktas in the first leg of their last-16 tie.
Atletico in control after impressive first-half performance
Atletico Madrid produced a three-goal blitz in the first half to claim a 3-1 home win over Besiktas in the first leg of their last-16 Europa League tie.
Eduardo Salvio scored twice in the space of three minutes and Adrian Lopez added another before half-time before former Atletico winger Simao Sabrosa scored a stunning second-half goal for Besiktas.
The travelling hordes of Turkish fans were in fine voice as the game began but they were quickly silenced after a stunning opening 45 minutes from the hosts which should have put the tie out of Besiktas' reach.
Salvio somehow skewed wide when presented with an open goal after a wonderful cross by Jorge Koke on 18 minutes and Radamel Falcao should also have done better when he shot straight at Cenk Gonen when through one-on-one.
However, Atleti were dominant and the opener duly arrived on 24 minutes when Salvio jinked past Veli Klavak and Gonen just could not get enough of a hand on his low effort to keep it out.
Left-back Felipe Luis then nearly got in on the act as his shot from the edge of the area was diverted just wide by the fingertips on Gonen.
Forlorn
A minute later Salvio had made it two as he ran onto a defence-splitting pass by Koke and lofted the ball over the advancing Gonen.
Koke came within inches of making it three after more great play by Adrian and Juanfran down the right presented him with a good headed opportunity but it was Adrian who did eventually get a deserved third as he ran half the length of the field and skipped past two forlorn Besiktas challenges before firing in off the underside of the bar.
The Turkish side however were back in the tie on 52 minutes as former Atleti favourite Simao volleyed home from the right side of the penalty area.
And Besiktas nearly had another goal back minutes later as a dangerous ball in from the right rebounded off Mustafa Pekternek and flew just past the post.
Koke came close to restoring Atleti's three-goal advantage but his effort was also deflected just the wrong side of the post before Thibaut Courtois was forced into a smart save late on by Filip Holosko to deny the visitors a priceless second away goal.
