Antoine Griezmann produced his best performance of the season to thrill Atletico Madrid head coach Diego Simeone, yet the LaLiga champions must get by without his threat at Liverpool on Wednesday.
Back at Atletico for a second spell after a misfiring stint at Barcelona, there was a touch of vintage Griezmann about his display in Sunday's 3-0 home win over Real Betis.
Since making his LaLiga debut with Real Sociedad against Villarreal on August 29 in 2010, only four players have scored more LaLiga goals than Griezmann's haul of 157 in 403 games. Those players are a special group: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Luis Suarez.
Some 95 of those goals have come in 188 games for Atletico, at a rate of one every 156.29 minutes, and there are promising signs that Griezmann is rediscovering his old confidence with the Rojiblancos.
Simeone watched the Frenchman create four chances against Betis, the joint most on the team, alongside Angel Correa and Yannick Carrasco. That total did not only beat his previous highest number in a game this season, but it doubled his entire season's LaLiga tally.
Two of the chances he created were defined by Opta as big chances, meaning that the person on the end of the chance would have reasonably been expected to score. That was not how it turned out, with neither resulting in a goal, but Simeone was suitably impressed. Luis Suarez and Jose Gimenez were among those who could not put away chances made for them by Griezmann.
"Looking at today's game, we found the usual Griezmann," Simeone said. "Working, insisting, looking for scoring chances, getting into positions, having chances to score. That's the way we were looking for him to be when we thought of him."
Three of Griezmann's four goals since rejoining Atletico in August have come in the Champions League, with his double against Liverpool last time out in the competition not enough for Simeone's side as they slipped to a 3-2 home defeat. Griezmann's red card in the second half of that game means he will not be involved at Anfield.
Griezmann had 65 touches against Betis, the most he has had for Atletico in a game during this second spell, with this being his 11th appearance for the club since leaving Camp Nou.
These are all promising signs for a player who appeared to have lost his way at Barcelona, and Liverpool will surely be relieved they will not encounter his threat in Wednesday's game.
Atletico sit a precarious second in Group B, five points adrift of Liverpool and level on points with Porto, who travel to face Milan.
Simeone, who watched from the stands against Betis after his dismissal in Atletico's previous game against Levante, can now begin to think about another clash with Jurgen Klopp's team.
"We were busy in LaLiga," the head coach said on Sunday evening. "We needed to win again to be up there with the contenders, and starting tomorrow another competition begins for which we will start to prepare tonight or tomorrow morning."
Antony returns to UK from Brazil and agrees to meet police over allegations
Antony has returned to the UK from Brazil and will meet Greater Manchester Police for questioning over allegations of abuse made against him, the PA news agency understands.
The 23-year-old, who joined Manchester United from Ajax last summer, has been on a leave of absence from the Premier League club since September 10.
Antony is facing several accusations of physical aggression towards his former girlfriend Gabriela Cavallin, who spoke to Brazilian outlet UOL earlier this month.
The winger has denied those allegations, as well as further assault claims made by Rayssa de Freitas and Ingrid Lana.
Antony said in a statement on September 10: “I want to reiterate my innocence of the things I have been accused of, and I will fully cooperate with the police to help them reach the truth.”
The winger has been in Brazil since the start of September, when he joined up with the national team only to be withdrawn from the squad when the allegations emerged.
Antony returned to England on Tuesday, having cooperated with police inquiries in Brazil, and is now set to meet GMP. He remains on leave and it is understood he will hand over his phone to the police for inspection.
The player was voluntarily interviewed by Brazilian police in June but has not been arrested or charged.
Sam Bowen earns overdue win for Wealdstone
Sam Bowen’s fine strike proved to be the difference as Wealdstone beat Woking in the Vanarama National League.
The hosts had won just one of their previous seven games before Bowen struck from the edge of the box to seal a 1-0 victory.
Bowen’s goal came just after the 15-minute mark and he almost repeated the feat five minutes later but this time shot wide.
Goalkeeper Jed Ward made a number of crucial saves to keep Woking at bay as the home side secured the points.
All square between Halifax and Dagenham at The Shay
Elliot Justham saved Dagenham and Redbridge a point as his side held on for a goalless draw against Halifax at The Shay.
Justham produced a fine late stop to deny Millenic Alli on a night of frustration for both sides who each extend their National League winless streaks to five games.
Justham had tipped over a curling effort from Angelo Cappello towards the end of the first half, before his opposite number Sam Johnson denied a Dagenham chance for Ryan Hill.
Johnson was back in action just before the hour mark when he produced a superb save to deny Nikola Tavares, but neither side had the cutting edge required to make a breakthrough.
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