Carrasco strike lifts Atletico to win over dogged Rostov

The impressive Yannick Carrasco scored the only goal in the second half to hand Rostov their first home defeat in 26 games.

Atletico were hot favourites and should have taken the lead after just 90 seconds. Soslan Dzhanaev could only weakly parry Carrasco's free kick straight into the path of Angel Correa who screwed his shot wide.

Dzhanaev made up for his error by saving well from Carrasco and midway through the half Correra wastefully blazed over from close range.

La Liga leaders Atletico continued to dominate in the second half but they had to wait until just before the hour mark until they had a decent effort on goal as Fernando Torres's header went inches over the bar.

The breakthrough came soon afterwards as Rostov failed to cut out Juanfran's cross and the ball dropped invitingly for Carrasco, who drilled a fierce left-foot shot past Dzhanaev.

The Rostov goalkeeper made another fine save to deny Antoine Griezmann late on as the visitors held on for a deserved victory.