Madrid: Borja Garces scored with almost the last kick of the game to secure a 1-1 draw for an underwhelming Atletico Madrid against Eibar at the Wanda Metropolitano here, Saturday.
The visitors looked like they had snatched maximum points after 87 minutes when Sergei Enrich prodded home from close range.
Substitute Garces, making his La Liga debut, spared Diego Simeone’s blushes though, lashing in from 15 yards, just moments after Diego Godin had thundered a header against the crossbar.
Their failure to adequately bounce back from defeat to Celta Vigo before the international break means that Simeone’s side face the prospect of falling seven points behind early pacesetters Barcelona and Real Madrid by the end of the weekend.
After a sluggish start, in which Eibar’s Jose Angel clipped the crossbar with a powerful half-volley, the hosts sparked into life, only to find Marko Dmitrovic in inspired form.
Dmitrovic was in action again just after the restart, tipping over Godin’s header and repelling Diego Costa’s drive within the space of a minute.
An unmarked Koke then inexplicably failed to connect with the ball just four yards out, while Eibar once again hit the woodwork, this time Anaitz Arbilla thundering a half-volley against the crossbar from 30 yards.
The visitors thought they had snatched a memorable win three minutes from time when Enrich took advantage of a deflection into his path to clip past Jan Oblak. Hosts’ hopes of a dramatic equaliser looked to be over when Godin’s header crashed back off the bar in stoppage time, but 19-year-old Garces had other ideas.